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Monthly Archives: August 2025

The Charlotte Writers Club Has Big Plans for Its 2025-2026 Season

August 23, 2025 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word club as “an organization of people with a common purpose or interest, who meet regularly and take part in shared activities.”  This definition applies perfectly to the Charlotte Writers Club (CWC). Since Adelia Kimball founded the club in 1922, the CWC has provided Charlotte-area writers with opportunities to meet regularly with other writers and to engage in writing-related activities. Like many cultural organizations, the CWC kicks off its season of programming in September.  Curious about CWC’s upcoming programs, I contacted Barbara (Bay) Yager, CWC’s current president, and asked her about the club’s plans for its 2025-2026 season.  Here is what she sent to me:

Storied Charlotte | Authors Assemble: Writing Organizations and Groups in  Charlotte

For over a century, the Charlotte Writers Club has welcomed storytellers at every stage of their writing journey—beginners to experts—and in every form—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and beyond. We are a community where writers share their expertise with the curious, where beginners and published authors learn side by side. This season, September through May, our programming reflects two central themes: honing your writing craft and navigating the path to publishing.

Our monthly meetings, held the third Tuesday of each month at Providence United Methodist Church, feature distinguished authors, editors, and literary professionals. Nationally recognized memoirist Judy Goldman opens the season in September with What’s the Big Idea?, followed by booksellers Sally Brewster of Park Road Books and Katie Mitchell of Trope Book Shop, who will share what authors should know from booksellers. Other months include novelist Kim Wright Wiley on story structure, Andrea Hurst and Lydia Caudill on what agents want, and poet David Radovich on shaping poems for publication.

Complementing the meetings are our Saturday workshops, where participants can roll up their sleeves and apply new tools directly to their work. Offerings include Melinda Ferguson on memoir, Misha Lazzara on the importance of setting, Sarah Archer on plotting versus pantsing, Barbara Presnell on the narrative arc, and Irene Honeycutt on writing with grief. Workshops conclude in May with a candid discussion of the publishing gamut featuring three accomplished authors, Lisa Williams Kline, Gilda Morina Syverson, and Ann Campanella.

Beyond meetings and workshops, CWC provides year-round connections. Writers can join critique groups by genre, participate in monthly virtual writing salons hosted by Tiffany Grantham, or test new work at our popular open mic nights at Mugs Coffee. In the Student Enrichment Program for middle and high school students, we offer monthly virtual writing salons, creative writing workshops, and student contests. Our annual contest series, including the Ruth Moose Flash Fiction opening on September 1st, Poetry, and Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story competitions, helps writers aim high.

Our new season begins on September 1. Let CWC be part of your journey. Visit the website for all our event details, whether you’re learning, publishing. or connecting, we look forward to meeting you and hearing your story. More information on these events can be found at https://charlottewritersclub.org/events/

I thank Bay for providing me with this information about CWC’s plans for its new season.  I also commend the Charlotte Writers Club for playing such an important role in the history of Storied Charlotte over the past 103 years.

Tags: Charlotte Writers Club

An Evening with Charlotte Author Joy Callaway

August 16, 2025 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Last week I received an email from Maggie Bean, the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, in which she informed about an upcoming event featuring Charlotte author Joy Callaway.  Intrigued, I asked Maggie for more information about this event.  Here is what she sent to me:

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation invites you to an evening of history, romance, and Charlotte’s own literary talent. Join us on Monday, September 15 at 6 PM at Wray Ward for Final Draught with bestselling author Joy Callaway, as she discusses her newest novels Star of Camp Greene and Sing Me Home to Carolina. Guests will enjoy an intimate conversation with the author moderated by author Susie Orman Schnall, light bites, and complimentary beer and wine.

Set in Charlotte during World War I, Star of Camp Greene transports readers to the city’s Camp Greene military base, a bustling training site that transformed the Queen City and left a lasting impact on the region. Callaway’s meticulous historical research blends with her talent for weaving compelling love stories, offering a vivid portrait of Charlotte’s past and the people who shaped it. In Sing Me Home to Carolina, she wows with her signature blend of romance and rich storytelling, this time in rural South Carolina.

Whether you’re a history buff, a romance reader, or simply someone who loves a good story rooted in our community, this Final Draught event is an opportunity to experience two of Charlotte’s local literary talents. Tickets are $20 and include light bites and beer and wine. More details and tickets are available at foundation.cmlibrary.org/events/joy-callaway.

I commend the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation not only for organizing this event with Joy Callaway but also for sponsoring the Final Draught author series. Created in 2017, this series provides area book lovers with opportunities to engage in conversations local writers over a glass of good beer or wine.  The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation also sponsors the annual Verse & Vino event, but that is a very large event. The Final Draught series is smaller and more informal than Verse & Vino.  I am a fan of both the Final Draught series and Verse & Vino, and I think that they both enrich Storied Charlotte’s cultural life.

Tags: Final DraughtJoy Callaway

Charlotte Lit Serves Up a Smorgasbord of Classes and Events

August 10, 2025 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

I am half Swedish. My mother’s ancestors immigrated to America from Sweden in the early 20th century, and they brought with them traditions that my mother honored throughout my childhood.  On celebratory occasions, my mother would set up a traditional Swedish smorgasbord that included a wide variety cold and hot dishes.  My love of pickled herring can be traced back to my mother’s elaborate smorgasbords.

The word smorgasbord popped into my head when Paula Martinac, Charlotte Lit’s Community Coordinator, sent me a writeup about Charlotte Lit’s programming for this fall. Like a traditional Swedish smorgasbord, Charlotte Lit’s fall lineup includes a variety of tempting offerings. Also like a smorgasbord, it has a celebratory quality to it, for this year’s programming marks Charlotte Lit’s tenth anniversary of providing the Charlotte community with writing courses and literary events. “But you don’t have to take my word for it,” as LeVar Burton said on Reading Rainbow. Here is what Paula sent to me:

Charlotte Lit is starting its tenth year of programming this fall—and in our brand-new studio space in Uptown! We have a great selection of classes and events designed to appeal to writers and readers with different interests in the literary arts.

Making its debut in our class lineup is the mini-lab, a condensed version of our signature writers’ intensives, Authors Lab and Poetry Chapbook Lab. Mini-labs incorporate expert instruction with discussion, prompts to get folks writing, a workshop component, and most important, community building. Students can choose a six-week class in personal essay writing with Rebecca McClanahan, or a five-week class in short-form prose with Luke Whisnant. We recently ran spotlights on both Rebecca and Luke on our blog. There will be mini-labs in playwriting and poetry in Winter–Spring 2026.

We’re also premiering a four-week literature class taught by UNC Charlotte Professor Emerita Jennifer Munroe. Watch out, because Jen will be highlighting the somewhat weirder elements of Shakespeare’s plays, including poisons and potions.

Our short classes highlight special topics in all genres, with favorite teachers like Tara Campbell, Angelo Geter, Patrice Gopo, David Hicks, and C.T. Salazar. 2025 GoodLit Poetry Fellow Olivia Dorsey Peacock, a self-described “tea maven,” will lead a tea meditation designed to awaken the senses and spark creativity. In fiction fundamentals, Paula Martinac will demystify point of view while Heather Newton from Flatiron Writers Room in Asheville will explore how to strengthen dialogue. For those ready to submit work for publication, Paul Reali’s class will take the angst out of the often-confusing process.

In addition to in-person classes that showcase our new space, we’ve got online sessions for those who live farther away. Most of our classes appeal to all levels of writers, from beginners on up, but we offer master classes for more advanced students. This semester, Robin Hemley will be in town to lead a master class on using objects in creative nonfiction, and Jan Beatty will teach about writing risk in poetry.

Exclusively for Charlotte Lit members, Rebecca McClanahan will offer a free multi-genre session musically titled “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered: Three Pathways to Our Deepest Work.” (Pro tip: You can join Charlotte Lit any time before September to get this benefit.)

The Fall 2025 class schedule is available now at charlottelit.org/classes. In November, we’ll announce the Winter–Spring classes, featuring new offerings by popular faculty like Bryn Chancellor, Kathie Collins, Judy Goldman, and Charlotte Poet Laureate Junious “Jay” Ward.

And, of course, we’ll have plenty of events! Our official studio launch is Friday, October 3, which will be a jam-packed day of special programming—watch our newsletter for the lineup. In addition, we’ll host a faculty talk on memoir writing, with Judy Goldman and Robin Hemley; a book launch for Lola Haskins’ new poetry collection; an evening edition of our popular Pen to Paper writing community, with Megan Rich; a reading by Poetry Chapbook mentor Nickole Brown; and a panel discussion called “Lessons from the Slush Pile: Advice on Journal Submissions from Editors and Readers.” There’s a lot going on, and folks will find full descriptions on our website: charlottelit.org/

I would like to offer Charlotte Lit a toast for providing Storied Charlotte with this veritable smorgasbord of classes and events, so in the tradition of my Swedish ancestors, let’s raise our virtual glasses and say skål!

Tags: Charlotte Lit

Remembering John Barringer and His Contributions to Charlotte’s Literary Community 

August 05, 2025 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

John Barringer, the founder of the store now known as Park Road Books, died on July 17, 2025, at the age of ninety. John’s lasting impact on Charlotte’s literary community began in 1977 when he opened the Little Professor Book Center in the Park Road Shopping Center. In August of 1999, Sally Brewster joined the store, and they changed the name to Park Road Books.  Sally bought the store from John in 2003, after which John officially retired. 

John’s retirement did not mean that his involvement in the world of books was over.  Working as a volunteer, he helped create Julia’s Café & Books as part of the Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region’s ReStore at 1144 N. Wendover Road. John was also a collector of rare and signed books. In 2012, he donated these books to the Queens University of Charlotte Special Collections.  Now known as the John Barringer Book Collection, these books are on display in the mezzanine of the Everett Library on the campus of Queens University.

I first met John shortly after I moved to Charlotte in 1984.  I quickly became a regular customer at Little Professor. When the name changed to Park Road Books, I kept calling the store Little Professor out of habit. I often talked with John about our shared commitment to resisting censorship. I remember John telling me that as a former Lutheran minister, he did not always personally like the values represented in all of the books that he sold in the store, but he believed that his store should include a wide range of books representing a wide range of viewpoints. He told me once about a customer who demanded that he remove a particular young adult novel from the store because she thought the book was “sinful,” but he refused to stop selling the book.

John and I also shared an interest in children’s books, and he made sure that the store was welcoming to children. After my wife and I became parents, we often brought our young son to the store. Together, we enjoyed checking out the new picture books. Many of these picture books came home with us.

John was very involved with the Dilworth Rotary Club.  In 2020 the club invited me to give a talk about the importance of children’s literature and literacy at one of their meetings, and John introduced me.  In an email that he sent to me before the meeting, he wrote, “I fondly recall your visits to the bookstore where you always brought your son.”  I fondly recall those days, too.  

Like many other book lovers, I will long remember John and his many contributions to Storied Charlotte. 

Tags: John BarringerPark Road Books
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