By TERRI SULLIVAN / Community Columnist

The visiting Author’s series continues in April with two women from the Birmingham area. The Eat.Drink.Read Series is co-sponsored by the Columbiana Public Library and the Shelby County Arts Council, and is funded in part by a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. The month of April features authors Anna Kathryn Davis and Julie Hedgepeth Williams.

Anna Kathryn Davis is a graduate of Oak Mountain High School and is attending the University of Alabama. In 2011, she signed with Tate Publishing Enterprises, marking her entry into life as a published author.

Her first book, “The Gifted,” is crafted to appeal to the young adult genre. Davis plans to complete a series of books featuring an “order of teenagers, one for each sign of the zodiac, who each have a gift. Their gifts are needed to fight against an ‘infestation of the human race’ that is threatening society.” She will be appearing at the Columbiana Library on April 3 at 4 p.m.   For more information, visit Annakathryndavis.com.

Julie Hedgepeth Williams is a professor of communications and journalism at Samford University. She is a historian whose works include several academic books and two historical novels.

“A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwell’s Story of Survival” is the story of her great uncle Albert Caldwell who at age 26 survived the Titanic along with his wife and young child.

“I thought I knew his Titanic story as well as my own name until I began researching it further and was astounded to find out what I didn’t know – that the Caldwells were on the Titanic because they were fleeing their jobs as missionaries, and that their boss was waiting for them when the rescue ship arrived in New York,” Hedgepeth Williams said. “She will be appearing at the Shelby County Arts Council, April 10 at 7p.m.”

The author book readings and signings are free for the public to attend. Books will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be served. More information is available at Shelbycountyartscouncil.com.