Monthly Archives: September 2021

I regularly teach a children’s literature course at UNC Charlotte, and a few weeks ago one of the students waited to speak to me after class.  “Are you going to talk about Judy Blume’s books?” she asked.  I told her that I would talk about Judy Blume during an upcoming class session, and she responded by telling me how much she loves Blume’s books.  She then told me that she recently worked as an extra in the film version of Blume’s 1970 novel Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, which was filmed in Charlotte during the spring and summer.  We talked about her experiences working as an extra, and she agreed to share her experiences with the rest of the class.  This past week she told the whole class about how much fun she had acting in one of the scenes in the movie, and I could tell that the entire class enjoyed hearing about her adventures as a budding movie star. 

The production company Lionsgate began filming of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret in Charlotte, and several of the surrounding communities in April 2021 and continued filming until the beginning of July.  The filming brought some famous movie stars to Charlotte, including Kathy Bates, who plays the role of Margaret’s grandmother, and Abby Ryder Fortson, who plays the role of Margaret.  Since the film takes place in the early 1970s, the filming also involved shooting street scenes filled with cars from the 1960s and early ‘70s.  As a result, several area car collectors had the pleasure of having their cars included in the film.  Although the filming wrapped up this past summer, Lionsgate does not plan to release the film until 2022.

The fact that Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was filmed in the Charlotte area has a special meaning for me, for it causes me to reflect on the day I met Judy Blume to interview her about the efforts to censor her books.  We met on June 10, 1985, in her home on the top floor of an attractive high-rise in New York City. I can pinpoint the date because I jotted it down on the cassette tape that I used to record the interview. When I listen to the tape now, I am almost embarrassed by how nervous I sounded at the start of our conversation, but I had never interviewed a famous author before, nor even been inside a building that had a doorman. Blume quickly put me at ease by telling me a bit about her family and offering me a beverage. Then, for the next several hours, we talked about censorship. At that time, I was in the middle of writing my first book, Children, Culture, and Controversy, and I was conducting research for a chapter about the various attempts to ban children’s books written by Blume and other controversial authors.

When I asked her questions about the campaigns against her books, she answered in ways that went beyond herself. She often drew connections between her own experiences with book censors and the experiences of other children’s authors whose books had also been banned. She talked about her commitment to children’s intellectual freedom and their right to read a variety of books. She told me about the National Coalition Against Censorship and suggested I interview its then-director, the late Leanne Katz. She also suggested I talk with other authors of censored children’s books. I followed up on her suggestions, and this eventually led to my collection of interviews titled Trust Your Children: Voices Against Censorship in Children’s Literature.  I would have never written this book if it were not for Blume’s suggestion and encouragement.

I will always treasure my memories of my trip to New York to interview Judy Blume, and I continue to value my connection to Blume and her children’s books.  I have long wished that I could reciprocate her gracious hospitality.  In fact, I tried to bring her to Charlotte to speak, but we could not work out the details.  However, now that her classic novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret has been filmed in Charlotte, I am pleased that Storied Charlotte has its own special connection to Judy Blume.    

Michael A. Almond’s debut novel, The Tannery, pairs up perfectly with Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.  Both are historical novels set in the South during the Jim Crow era.  Both deal with the impact of racial prejudice on the court system.  Both include highly principled lawyers who fight for justice even though the odds are stacked against them.  And both provide readers with insider depictions of life in small Southern communities.  It might not seem fair to compare The Tannery to Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird since Lee’s novel is recognized as one of the most important novels in the history of Southern literature, but The Tannery stands up to the comparison. Michael has created a riveting novel that combines the excitement of a legal thriller with the complexities of a well-researched work of historical fiction.  Michael’s depiction of North Carolina’s bigoted past is unflinching and disturbing, but his portrait of his native state is not entirely negative.  His story has its bigots, but it also has its heroes.

In writing The Tannery, Michael drew on his experience and contacts as a long-time Charlotte resident.  He moved to Charlotte in 1976, a year after he graduated from the law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He spent many years with the Charlotte law firm of Parker Poe, and because of this background, he has a deep understanding of the intricacies of the legal system.  This background helped him when writing the courtroom scenes in The Tannery.  His many Charlotte contacts also helped him when he decided to try his hand at writing a novel.  As he was writing The Tannery and preparing to submit it to publishers, he sought feedback from the writing community in Charlotte, and he readily acknowledges the help that he received from these writers.  For more information about his career and his debut novel, please click on the following link:  www.michaelalmondbooks.com

I recently contacted Michael and asked him for more background about his decision to write The Tannery.  Here is what he sent to me:

My debut novel, The Tannery, will be released by Koehler Books on October 19, 2021.  The book is a work of historical fiction, a murder mystery/legal thriller set in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in the pivotal year of 1900 amidst the turbulent world of post-Reconstruction political, social, and racial conditions in the South at the dawn of the Jim Crow era.  When I began researching and outlining the novel back in 2007, I had no idea that the themes of Black voter suppression and intimidation, vigilante “justice,” and White Supremacy that drive the story would resonate so vividly in today’s polarized environment.

I am a lifelong resident of North Carolina, raised in the small town of Pilot Mountain in the Piedmont foothills, and I came of age during the Civil Rights upheavals of the 1960s.

My decades-long career as an international business lawyer was entirely spent in Charlotte.  Back in 1976, I turned down offers from law firms in larger cities, convinced that Charlotte was about to make its case and stake its claim as a leader in global trade, business, finance, and investment.  It turns out that this was the right idea, at the right time, in just the right place.

I am a voracious reader, getting through 40-50 books a year, and somewhere along the way I began to wonder…perhaps there is a book in me?  I am not a historian, but I am a huge fan of Southern history and historical fiction, so the genre appealed to me as I began thinking about what sort of story I wanted to tell.

Budding authors are always told to “Write what you know.” So in researching and outlining The Tannery, I drew heavily from my own personal background and experience.  I grew up in Surry County, next door to Wilkes, and I was generally aware of Wilkes’ rich and compelling history: Daniel Boone, the Overmountain Men, Tom “Dooley,” the Fort Hamby Gang, Eng and Chang Bunker (the original “Siamese Twins”), the C.C. Smoot & Sons Tannery (the largest steam leather tannery in the Southeast), the devastating Yadkin River floods, and of course, moonshine!  Maybe I could build a story around that?

Last April, after 13 years of historical research, plotting, and outlining, I proudly presented my wife, Helen Ruth, with what I thought was the final outline for the book.  Exasperated, she looked me in the eye and said, “Listen, Michael, all of your friends and I are tired of hearing about your research and outlining.  We are stuck at home in the middle of a pandemic, so you have no excuse.  Either go upstairs and write the book or be quiet about it!”  So, I did.  Overcoming the terrifying image of a blank computer screen before me, I began to write.  And five months and 125,000 words later, The Tannery was complete.

In my experience, readers of historical fiction always want to learn something new, but they are also interested in just where the “historical” ends and the “fiction” begins, the line between reality and imagination.  My goal was to write a fast-paced, suspenseful, compelling, and, most of all entertaining story with lots of twists, turns, and surprises, all the while weaving in the historical details that hopefully enrich the narrative.  The keys to successful historical fiction, I believe, are authenticity and context.  In a sense, then, The Tannery is a sort of “time machine,” transporting readers to a different time and place, aiming for a deeper understanding of the post-Reconstruction South and exposing some of the darker, more shameful forces and personalities at work in 1900 North Carolina.

The Tannery is by no means autobiographical, but the book does draw upon my own personal and professional experiences as an international attorney and long-time resident of Charlotte.  Local venues in the book include Wilkes County, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Charlotte, but many scenes take place in such far-off places as Oxford, London, Alsace, Baden-Baden, and Argentina.  My international travels over the years also suggested many of the fictional characters (and the languages they speak, as well as many of the meals they consume!) who appear in the book alongside such historical personalities as Charles B. Aycock, Cameron Morrison, and Josephus Daniels.  I expect that many of my Charlotte friends, who have patiently listened to my stories and anecdotes over the years, will smile and recognize much of the Michael Almond they know in The Tannery!

Once the novel was completed, I faced the challenge of getting the thing published.  And here I must salute the incredible community of local Charlotte authors and others in our local Book World who so generously contributed their time, wisdom, and resources to help me, as a novice, navigate what is an always challenging and sometimes bewildering publication and marketing process.  Kudos and much appreciation to Mark Ethridge, Mark de Castrique, Millie and Tom Cox, Kim Wright, Kimmery Martin, Tracy Curtis, Tommy Tomlinson, Leslie Hooten, Bess Kercher, Frye Gaillard, Frances and Bill Thompson, Landis Wade, Judy Goldman, Karen Beach, and Judith Sutton!”

Since retiring from his career as an attorney, Michael and his wife divide their time between their farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Charlotte.  However, he still considers himself a Charlotte writer, and so do I.  As the keeper of Storied Charlotte’s ever-expanding library, I am pleased to add The Tannery to the collection of historical novels by Charlotte authors.