Every spring I look forward to the blooming of the daffodils in our flowerbed and the release of the spring issue of Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit. Both made their appearances right on time. Charlotte Lit announced the publication of the Spring 2026 issue of Litmosphere in an email sent out on March 21, and I took a look at it right away.
Kathie Collins, the Editor-in-Chief of Litmosphere, assembled an impressive team of readers to judge the submissions by 300 writers from across the country. In the end, they selected work by thirty-four writers for inclusion in the spring issue. The issue is organized into four categories: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and flash. The issue is profusely illustrated by stunning photographs by Charlotte photographer Amy Hart.
Given my interest in Charlotte’s community of readers and writers, I kept an eye out for work by Charlotte writers. I recognized five of the writers as being from Charlotte, including two of the poets represented in the issue. Alexander Beets, a former student of mine, has a poem in the issue titled “Kingdom Come,” an emotionally charged poem that is structured around the lines from the Lord’s Prayer. Mary Alice Dixon’s poem “The Secret of the Kneading in My Sourdough Bread” also includes a response to another text with religious connotations, but in this case, the text is the Loaves & Fishes Cookbook. The fiction section includes two short stories by Charlotte writers: “The Void,” a speculative fiction story by Christopher Braniff; and “Fourth Thursday,” a story about a family Thanksgiving dinner by Ebony Morman. Finally, the nonfiction section features a personal essay titled “Roar” by Betsy West, a former architecture professor at UNC Charlotte. This essay is tied to a memoir that she is writing about her wife’s experiences as a cancer patient and her experiences as a caregiver.
The entire Spring 2026 issue of Litmosphere is available online. Read the issue here!
I congratulate Kathie and all the good folks at Charlotte Lit on the release of the latest issue of Litmosphere. With the publication of each issue of Litmosphere, Charlotte Lit makes an important contribution to the larger literary sphere that I call Storied Charlotte.
