North Carolina Humanities recently announced their plans for next year’s North Carolina Reads program. This program is a statewide book club that meets virtually on a monthly basis. I am a big supporter of North Carolina Reads in part because it fosters a sense of community among the participants. After all, discussing shared texts can bring readers together and bridge cultural differences. Another reason I support this program is that it always showcases books that have deep connections to North Carolina. The official announcement provides an abundance of information about the program, which I have condensed for the purposes of this week’s blog post:
North Carolina Humanities’ award-winning statewide book club, North Carolina Reads, is returning for its fourth year starting next February 2025. North Carolina Reads annually features five books that explore issues of racial, social, and gender equity and the history and culture of North Carolina.
From February – June 2025, NC Humanities will host free, virtual, monthly book club discussion events where participants will hear from guest speakers, including book authors and topic experts. Libraries, community groups, and individuals across North Carolina are encouraged to read along with NC Humanities, attend North Carolina Reads book club discussion events, and then host their own local book discussions to further conversation, camaraderie, and community.
North Carolina Humanities is pleased to announce the following titles for North Carolina Reads 2025:
February 2025 – The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
Fiction
In 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen. When the honorable Reverend William finally listens to Louella’s pleas and leads the formerly enslaved people out of their plantation, Louella begins to feel hope. Soon, William and Louella become the appointed king and queen of their self-proclaimed Kingdom of the Happy Land. And though they are still surrounded by opposition, they continue to share a message of joy and goodness–and fight for the freedom and dignity of all. Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen is based on actual events that occurred between 1865 – 1889 and shares the unsung history of a Black woman who built a kingdom in Appalachia as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life.
March 2025 – On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice by Ryan Emanuel
Nonfiction
Environmental scientist Ryan E. Emanuel, a member of the Lumbee tribe, shares stories from North Carolina about Indigenous survival and resilience in the face of radical environmental changes. Addressing issues from the loss of wetlands to the arrival of gas pipelines, these stories connect the dots between historic patterns of Indigenous oppression and present-day efforts to promote environmental justice and Indigenous rights on the swamp. Emanuel’s scientific insight and deeply personal connections to his home blend together in a book that is both a heartfelt and an analytical call to acknowledge and protect sacred places.
April 2025 – Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience by Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre
Nonfiction
Depictions of Appalachian food culture and practices often romanticize people in the region as good, simple, and, often, white. These stereotypes are harmful to the actual people they are meant to describe as well as to those they exclude. In Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience, Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre tell a more complicated story. The authors embark on a cultural tour through food and drinking establishments to investigate regional resilience in and through the plurality of traditions and communities that form the foodways of Southern Appalachia.
May 2025 – The Girls We SentAway by Meagan Church
Fiction
It’s the 1960s in North Carolina and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and an idyllic home complete with a white picket fence. Yet every time she looks through her father’s telescope, she dreams of leaving it all behind to go to space. But when this darling girl-next-door gets pregnant, she’s forced to learn firsthand the realities that keep women grounded. To hide their daughter’s secret shame, the Delfords send Lorraine to a maternity home for wayward girls. But this is no safe haven – it’s a house with dark secrets and suffocating rules. And as Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her life, she must decide if she has the power to fight for the future she wants or if she must submit to the rules of a society she once admired.
June 2025 – Doc Watson: A Life in Music by Eddie Huffman
Nonfiction
A musician’s musician, Doc grew up on a subsistence farm in the North Carolina mountains during the Depression, soaking up traditional music and learning to play guitar even though he was blind. Rising to fame in the 1960s as part of the burgeoning folk revival scene, Doc became the face of traditional music for many listeners, racking up multiple Grammys and releasing dozens of albums over the course of his long career. Eddie Huffman tells the story of Doc’s life and legacy, drawing on extensive interviews and hundreds of hours of archival research. Full of fascinating stories—from Doc’s first banjo made from his grandmother’s cat to the founding of MerleFest—this promises to be the definitive biography of the man and how he came to be synonymous with roots music in America and shows how his influence is still felt in music today.
NC Humanities encourages readers to get a head start on their reading by checking with their local library or bookstore to find book copies. North Carolina Readsbook club discussion details and online registration information will be available later this year at nchumanities.org. Please note, you do not have to read the books to participate in North Carolina Reads discussions.
To expand accessibility to books in underserved communities across North Carolina, NC Humanities will once again offer a limited number of North Carolina Reads book boxes to readers. These boxes will include a selection of the five book titles, unique swag, bookmarks, curated program and discussion guides, and more. Discussion guides and program planning guides will also be available for free download in winter 2025 at nchumanities.org. Details on how to request a book box will be released before the end of 2024 at nchumanities.org. If you have questions or concerns about how resource delivery to you or your community may be impacted due to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, please contact us at nch@nchumanities.org. To receive updates about North Carolina Reads, please sign up for our e-newsletter at nchumanities.org.
I thank North Carolina Humanities for organizing this program and for drawing attention to these five noteworthy books. I am especially pleased that Charlotte authors Meagan Church and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes are included among the authors whose books are being featured. As I often say, my Storied Charlotte blog is all about celebrating Charlotte’s community of readers and writers, but as North Carolina Reads makes clear, Storied Charlotte is also a key player in the storied state of North Carolina.
