Jeff Weddle is the State of Alabama Beat Poet Laureate (2024–2026) and the author of more than a dozen books of poetry and prose. His Bohemian New Orleans: The Story of the Outsider and Loujon Press, won the 2007 Eudora Welty Prize and his research for that book served as partial inspiration for Wayne Ewing’s acclaimed documentary, The Outsiders of New Orleans: Loujon Press. Jeff has also received honors for his fiction and poetry. His work has appeared in Spanish and Albanian translation, including two fat volumes of poetry translated by Fadil Bajraj, who introduced Beat Generation literature to the Albanian speaking world. Jeff lives with his wife, children and dog in Tuscaloosa, where he teaches at the University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Studies.