Sun Ra Day 2026 united Birmingham, Alabama and London, England in tribute to the late visionary. Veryl Oakland signed books at Alabama Booksmith, presented at Seasick Records, and saw his photographs exhibited at ROVR Soho—a dual-continent celebration of Sun Ra's enduring legacy.
Sun Ra Day Festival
We were honored to be included in the programming for Sun Ra Day Festival, headquartered in Sun Ra's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama — with a sister event running simultaneously across the pond in London.
Spearheaded by founder Lee Shook Jr., the festival celebrated its second year in 2026, with a variety of events honoring the late musician. It was fantastic meeting local fans as well as so many who traveled in for the series of events.
For our part, Oakland signed copies of his book, Jazz in Available Light, at Alabama Booksmith, a truly unique bookstore run by proprietor Jake Reiss. Recently profiled in the New Yorker, Alabama Booksmith only displays and sells autographed copies of books — browsing the shelves of important authors and known personalities, it was a thrill to be included at such a special store.
Then, Oakland gave an artist talk at Seasick Records, speaking about his time photographing Sun Ra in the late 70s and 80s, which we paired with a video presentation. To bring the era to life, we had books open to the chapter dedicated to Sun Ra, exhibited photographs, sold custom Sun Ra shirts, and also brought along various "artifacts" for people to enjoy looking through, like the original Swing Journal jazz calendar from that featured Oakland’s shot of Ra for the month of May (his “arrival” and “departure” month), and the seven pages of original poetry Ra gave to Oakland after photographing him at his Germantown home.
Lastly, for the concurrent event in London, alongside a 48-hour radio marathon of Sun Ra music on ROVR Live radio, we shared photos of Sun Ra for an exhibit at ROVR Soho — an analog-first listening studio, and cafe gallery.
It was a rare thing — to watch two cities, an ocean apart, come together in tribute to Sun Ra on the same weekend. For Oakland, whose photographs of Ra date back to the late 70s, it was a reminder of how far that music, and those memories, still travel.
Prints from the Sun Ra Collection are available here.
