Ever noticed the old bike inside of The Globe? You may have dismissed it as just a decoration—the pub is a popular spot to watch the Twilight Criterium, after all—but the relic was actually owned by Patrik Keim, a local mixed-media artist who committed suicide in 1998. A few years following his death, a pine coffin was uncovered in a swamp 180 miles from Keim’s grave and down the road from the farm of author and sociology professor Allen C. Shelton. Shelton, who possessed a suitcase full of Keim’s incomplete projects, became convinced that his friend was traveling around in search of his unfinished work. In Where the North Sea Touches Alabama, self-described as a “sociological fictocriticism,” Shelton explores his relationship to Keim as well as his relationship to northeastern Alabama through a narrative of fantasy and reflection. The free event kicks off at 7 p.m.
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