Officers | ASPS

Dr. Jessica Temple

President

Jessica Temple earned her PhD in poetry from Georgia State University and currently teaches at Northwest Florida State College. She attended the 2019 Sewanee Writers' Conference as a contributing participant in poetry and was Alabama State Poetry Society's 2019 Poet of the Year. Her work has appeared in Thema; Crab Orchard Review; Canyon Voices; and Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems from Negative Capability Press, among others. She is the author of two poetry collections, Seamless and Other Legends (Finishing Line Press, 2013) and Daughters of Bone (Madville Press, 2021). Find out more at jessicatemple.com.

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Co-President

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Jerri Hardesty

First Vice-President (Events)

Jerri Hardesty lives in the woods of Alabama with husband, Kirk, also a writer. They run the nonprofit organization, NewDawnUnlimited, Inc., dedicated to poetry publishing, production, performance, promotion, preservation, and education (NewDawnUnlimited.com). She attended the University of Montevallo (BS, MA), where she was also briefly an adjunct professor. Jerri has won more than 1600 awards and titles in both written and spoken word/performance poetry and has had almost 500 poems published. She was the 2009 ASPS Poet of the Year.

Dargan Ware

Second Vice-President (Contests)

Dargan M. Ware is a poet and attorney who was an over-the-road truck driver until he decided to go to law school at 35. A friend once described him as a “high-functioning drifter,” and he has been unable to come up with a better description. He practices consumer protection law, trying to fight the good fight for regular folks against big corporations. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with his wife Kristi and their 17-year-old triplets, where he enjoys trivia, cooking, and attempting to get a turn on the computer. He is the author of two novels, The Legend of Colgan Toomey and Old Soldiers Never Die, and has published poetry in The Wild Word, Cagibi Lit, and Artefact Nouveau.

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Recording Secretary/Treasurer

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Kim Shackleford

Corresponding Secretary/Messenger Ink Editor

Dr. Kimberly K. Shackelford, LCSW, is retired from social work and academia and is currently progressing in her new career of writing fiction, memoir, and poetry. Her first career included many years in the fields of child welfare and child advocacy. She co-authored two books, Secondary Traumatic Stress and the Child Welfare Professional and The Costs of Courage: Combat Stress, Warriors, and Family Survival, and published two memoir short stories published in the Birmingham Arts Journal. Dr. Shackelford co-authored Act II: Footprints in Gulf Shores with Nancy Dickhute and Heidi Schmidt. She is co-owner of Beach Bards Publishing, LLC with Heidi and Nancy.

Alicia Clavell McCall

Historian/Social Media

Alicia Clavell McCall serves as founder/publisher of the electronic publication Southern Women’s Review. She has two decades of experience in magazine publication and currently serves as an instructor and co-coordinator of the UAB Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop for high school students. Clavell McCall is a former Hackney Award winner, and she has published in venues such as Red Truck Review, Light Journal, and Birmingham Arts Journal. Email her at aliciaclavell@gmail.com.

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Webmaster

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