In 1927 A. A. Milne, the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, brought out a collection of children’s poems under the title of Now We Are Six. This title popped into my head when I saw the news about the publication of the latest issue of Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit. I have been writing Storied Charlotte blog posts about publication of each issue of Litmosphere since Charlotte Lit announced the founding of the journal back in 2021. To paraphrase Milne, now we are three.
I contacted Kathie Collins, the Editor-in-Chief of Litmosphere, and asked her for more information about the latest issue. Here is what she sent to me:
We are so pleased to present the third issue of Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit and honored to be able to include an array of finely crafted poems and stories selected from hundreds of entries received last fall in our 2024 Lit/South Awards contest.
Since 2022, Charlotte Lit has hosted the Lit/South Awards, open to writers who have ever lived in North Carolina or one of its four border states. We then publish the winners, finalists, and selected semi-finalists in that year’s edition of Litmosphere, alongside the work of the contest judges.
This Spring 2024 issue includes 57 pieces from 55 writers—and we’re happy to report that more than a dozen are part of the Charlotte Lit community. Judging is blind so no preference is given; the writing is what matters. We’re especially pleased to note that two of the three category winners are from Charlotte: Caroline Hamilton Langerman, who won the Creative Nonfiction Award (selected by Maggie Smith) for “The Difficult Child,” and Michael Sadoff, who won the Fiction Award (selected by Clyde Edgerton) for “Decoy.” North Carolinian Arielle Hebert won the Poetry Award (selected by Jericho Brown) for “Athazagoraphobia.”
As editor-in-chief of Charlotte Lit Press, and as a member of the screening team tasked with preparing short lists for our guest judges, I found it thrilling to read one captivating piece after another—and also frustrating to know we could have filled this volume twice more with truly worthy work. We’re grateful to everyone who submitted and honored to publish so many excellent stories and poems, helping writers find their way to readers.
It takes a village to coordinate an endeavor of this size, so huge thanks go out to my fabulous team of fellow readers: Nikki Campo, Chris Davis, Jaqueline Parker, David Poston and Paul Reali. Thanks also to our judges: Jericho Brown, Clyde Edgerton and Maggie Smith, to Paula Martinac for copyediting, and to Laurie Smithwick for providing cover artwork for a third year running. And finally, to the anonymous benefactor who makes the journal possible.
We are grateful for the opportunity to share your work with our community of readers and writers—a community that, like the Lit/South Awards region itself, extends well beyond our organization’s home in Charlotte, NC.
All three issues of Litmosphere can be read online, and we’ll be happy to ship you a printed copy for just $15, shipping included: https://www.charlottelit.org/litmosphere.
I congratulate Kathie and all of the good folks at Charlotte Lit on the publication of the third issue of Litmosphere. I started this blog post with a reference to Milne, but I will close with a reference to a line from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Because of Charlotte Lit, Storied Charlotte “is a far, far better thing.”