About Alan

Author, Librarian, and Community Educator.

If I’m not writing at home, or working at Coastal Alabama Community College, you will find me talking about, reading, or listening to stories about Fairhope. I’m a student of all things Fairhope, from the founders to the flowers. After a recent drive around the city, I realized that in the hurry up day-to-day, we either forget why we moved to Fairhope, or just realized there was something different and unique about the place that attracted us. If you’re a visitor looking for it, if you’ve lost it, or if it’s fading, my goal is to bring you a new perspective about Fairhope, it’s history, culture, and people. I want to be a bridge between the founders and her new residents. If you lived here yesterday, or if you’re just visiting, you’re part of Fairhope history.

My first job in Alabama was writing for the Fairhope Courier. I even earned a Mobile Press Club Award. For twelve years, I worked part-time at the Fairhope Public Library. During that time, I earned degrees in communication, creative writing (Master of Fine Arts), and librarianship (Master of Library and Information Studies), and volunteered at the Fairhope Museum of History. I served briefly as the Fairhope Museum of History director and continue to be a Friend of the Museum. My wife Susan and I are lessees and members of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. I serve as vice president of the Pensters Writing Group and I’m a member of the Baldwin County Historical Society. Part of the gig economy, I’m a part time librarian at Coastal Alabama Community College, a free-lance writer for Fairhope Living magazine and a walking tour guide.

I’m a licensed substitute with Baldwin County Public Schools and I hold a Distance Education Certification from Coastal Alabama Community College.

Curious about Fairhope architecture, buy a copy of Clay City Tile: Frank Brown and the Company that Built Fairhope. Curious about me? With my prosthetic leg, how can you not be. Buy Stump the Librarian: A Writer’s Book of Legs, a memoir and history of amputees for teens and adults. Books are available to purchase after the tour.