Bonnie E. Cone Professor in Civic Engagement Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

AUTHOR

Mark West

Standing Up for the Freedom to Read

October 10, 2026 by Mark West

I am writing this blog post on October 10, 2026, which marks the final day of Banned Books Week. Organized by the American Library Association, Banned Books Week culminates with “Let Freedom Read Day!” Standing up for the freedom to read is what this blog post is all about.

For many years, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has played a leadership role in defending the freedom to read here in the Charlotte area. This year the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library held two events under the heading of “Freedom to Read: Banned Books Community Conversation.” The first of these community conversations took place on October 5 at the University City Regional Library, and the second occurred on October 7 at the South County Regional Library.

I served as one of the discussion leaders at the first of these events, and I was very impressed with how engaged all of the attendees were in this community conversation. We talked about the history of censorship, the differences between criticizing books and banning books, and the importance of having access to a wide variety of books representing varying and sometimes conflicting viewpoints.

Writers, like librarians, are often key players in the movement to defend the freedom to read. That point was underscored for me when I received an email last week from Joseph Bathanti, a former North Carolina Poet Laureate and one-time Charlotte resident. Joseph is a member of the NC Steering Committee for the national organization Writers for Democratic Action. He sent me an op-ed from the NC Steering Committee about the Freedom to Read in NC, and he asked me if I would be willing to run their op-ed in my Storied Charlotte blog. I am happy to do so. Here is their op-ed:

As we commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the United States, communities across the country find their freedom to read threatened, censored, and banned. It is absolutely critical that the unalienable right to read, which goes hand in hand with the unalienable right to free speech – protected in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution – remains sacred and cherished.

Books supply wisdom on how to distinguish between right and wrong; how to navigate gracefully the tricky terrain of an often-troubled world; how to engage, through discussion, sensitive ultimately human dilemmas; how to unite and move forward in reconciliation, joint humanity, cooperation and charity rather than in suspicion and intolerance. Books remind us that the human spirit is inextinguishable, that the future of the only planet we have depends upon our threshold to embrace and adapt to difference through shared inquiry. Apart from the pure enjoyment and edification that books impart, they reorder and discipline our instincts in profoundly human and humane ways; provide moral compasses, social consciences, the transformative beauty of the word when wielded judiciously, the limitless possibilities for a fully realized and happy life, and the miraculous power of imagination – which Einstein declared “encircles the world.”

As a culture, we habitually discuss the safety of our children. Nothing is more important. As writers and teachers, we take very seriously the safety of all children and students – as seriously as we take the safety and well-being of the beloved children in our own families. Prohibiting books imperils the intellectual safety of children, so crucial not only to their lives, but to the great state of North Carolina, and well beyond. Books help raise children into Americans with capacious hearts and judicious minds whose first reaction to any situation is measured discourse leavened with courage, compassion and intellect – not condemnation and xenophobia. We must guard our children by guaranteeing them the unfettered, democratic freedom to read.

Alex Albright, Joseph Bathanti, Margaret Bauer, Belle Boggs, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Wiley Cash, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Jaki Shelton Green, Jill McCorkle, Thomas Mills, Michael Parker, Bland Simpson, Ed Southern, and Lynn York.

On this Let Freedom Read Day, I celebrate everyone who stands up for the freedom to read, including the librarians who make the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library a community cornerstone for intellectual freedom, the amazing North Carolina writers from Charlotte and beyond who speak out against book banning in all its forms, and the countless readers who resist censorship pressures by reading banned books. As I see it, the freedom to read movement is right at home here in Storied Charlotte.

Tags: Banned Books Week Let Freedom Read Day

Karen Garloch’s New High-Voltage Novel

October 03, 2026 by Mark West

My mother grew up on the outskirts of a small Indiana town. When I was about ten years old, she loaded my brother, sister and me into the family Buick station wagon and then drove through the night so that we could visit our Indiana relatives. On this trip, Mom let me sit in the front with her while my younger brother and sister slept in the back. Mom woke me up as we crossed the state line dividing Illinois and Indiana, and I remember looking out the car window at dawn and seeing tidy farms flit by as made our way to Grandpa Pete’s house. I flashed on this memory as I was reading Karen Garloch’s new novel titled Stray Voltage.

Karen’s novel is set on an Indiana farm much like the farms that I gazed upon during the trip that I took with my mother as a boy. Like my mother, Karen grew up in rural Indiana where her family owned a farm. In the 1980s, Karen moved to Charlotte to pursue a career as a journalist with the Charlotte Observer, but her memories of living on an Indiana farm have stayed with her all these years. She draws on these memories in Stray Voltage, a powerful novel featuring an Indiana farm wife who risks everything to save the family farm.

I recently contacted Karen and asked her for more information about how she came to write Stray Voltage. Here is what she sent to me:

I started thinking about writing fiction in the late 1980s after I moved from the Midwest to take a reporting job at the Charlotte Observer. I began reading novels by celebrated Southern writers, wanting to familiarize myself with this new part of the country where I was making my home.

Books by Lee Smith, Clyde Edgerton, Barbara Kingsolver, Olive Ann Burns, and Wendell Berry, just to name a few, helped me see that a lot of Southern traditions are similar to those I knew in the rural Midwest. Families take casseroles to those who have lost loved ones. They attend church and potluck dinners (although in Indiana, we call them “pitch-in” dinners). Southern Hospitality didn’t seem much different from what we called Hoosier Hospitality.

It took moving away for me to realize how distinctive and undervalued Midwestern values are. I wondered why there isn’t a mystique about Midwestern literature as there is about Southern literature.

So, I started thinking about writing my own novel that would pay tribute to the farming community where I grew up in southern Indiana. It was too intimidating in those early years to think of myself as an “author,” but I made notes about people and stories from my childhood. About attending a one-room school for my first seven grades. About playing ferocious games of euchre with my family. About butchering hogs. About hanging out in the cattle barns at the county fair.

But that wasn’t enough for a novel. I needed a plot.

Then one day – I think it was 2015 – we got a visit from my childhood friend Dave and his wife. His family’s farm was adjacent to my family’s farm, and as an adult, Dave had become a bigtime dairy farmer. When asked how his farm was doing, Dave said it was good now that he got the “stray voltage problem” figured out.

I said, “Stray WHAT?”

He told an incredible story. Over 30 years, mysterious illnesses had befallen his cows, and no one could figure out why. Dave lost hundreds of cows and maybe millions of dollars. When he finally figured out the reason – stray voltage from the electrical system – he had trouble persuading the rural electric cooperative to take him seriously. He almost lost his farm.

I was sad for Dave. But I realized, this could be my plot! It would allow me to write about conflict and tension in a rural community.

From the internet, I learned that stray voltage was not an uncommon phenomenon in the upper Midwest. Big dairy farmers had filed lawsuits against electric companies and won jury verdicts in the millions of dollars. Despite that, stray voltage had gotten little attention in Indiana. I knew it would make a great subject.

To find out more about stray voltage, I interviewed one of the Minnesota farmers who won a multi-million-dollar verdict and a reporter who had covered the lawsuits in the upper Midwest. I also interviewed my friend Dave several times to make sure I understood as much about the phenomenon as I could. And finally, I interviewed the current CEO of the rural electric cooperative in southern Indiana, who had helped Dave resolve his problem.

Because I had spent so many years writing non-fiction, I knew I’d need help to create a novel. I wouldn’t have notes to refer to or people to interview for quotations. After I retired from the Observer, I applied for the Authors Lab, a mini-MFA program sponsored by Charlotte Center for Literary Arts. There, I met regularly with other students to hear lectures on fiction techniques and to critique each other’s work. I learned about writing dialogue, pacing scenes, and choosing the right point of view. It was during Authors Lab that I began thinking more about how to develop my female protagonist, the farm wife Hillie and through her to explore themes of marriage, gender expectations, resilience, and a woman’s growing desire to challenge authority.

I learned how to develop her “interiority”–to decide what she was thinking and feeling and help her figure out not just what she wanted (to save the cows), but also what she needed (a bigger voice in her family and community). Because she was dealing with an environmental hazard, I ended up comparing her to Erin Brockovich–but without short skirts, deep cleavage, and foul language!

I stayed in Authors Lab for four years, and when I finished my manuscript in 2024, I began querying agents who might help sell my book to a publisher. One of the Authors Lab teachers, Heather Newton, suggested that I enter my manuscript in two contests. To my surprise, I won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction sponsored by Regal House Publishing. And the prize included a contract for publication in fall 2026!

A Regal House judge told me she thought Stray Voltage should win because there aren’t enough books about “hardworking people with real struggles who must push back against a system everyone relies on, even if it means upending everything they hold dear.”

It may surprise some that I would set my novel in Indiana because I left the farm when I went to college and spent my career working for big city newspapers. But my parents’ farm and my childhood experiences never left my heart. I was moved by that line in the musical Hamilton: “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” And I realized that if I didn’t write about this special place, no one would.

For readers who want to know more about Karen’s novel, please click on the following link: www.karengarloch.com

Karen will be doing a presentation and book signing at Park Road Books on October 28, 2026, at 7:00 pm. For more information about tis event, please click on the following link: https://parkroadbooks.com/event/2026-10-28/karen-garloch-discusses-her-new-book-stray-voltage-tommy-tomlinson

With the publication of Stray Voltage, Karen joins an impressive list of former Charlotte Observer writers and editors who have launched second careers as creative writers after leaving the Observer. This list includes Joseph Bathanti, Patricia Cornwell, Frye Gaillard, Pam Kelley, Dannye Romine Powell, Nancy Stancill, and Tommy Tomlinson. Storied Charlotte is a far richer place because of the literary contributions of Karen and her former Observer colleagues.

Tags: Karen Garloch Stray Voltage

Nick Canada’s New Poetry Chapbook about Past Obsessions

September 26, 2026 by Mark West

I thought I had Nicholas (Nick) Canada all figured out, but I was wrong. Nick is a colleague of mine at UNC Charlotte where he primarily teaches courses in the American Studies Program, a program that I once ran for ten years. He has stopped by my office many times, and we have often talked about our shared interests in American popular culture, film studies, and other related topics. We both earned our doctoral degrees from the American Culture Ph.D. Program at Bowling Green State University, so this connection has sometimes figured in our conversations. As a result of our ongoing interactions, I know something about his classes and his research interests, but until recently, I did not know that Nick is also a poet.

I learned about Nick’s interest in writing poetry when I heard that he had just published a poetry chapbook titled Limerence in Black and White. Right off the bat, I was intrigued by the title of his chapbook. The word limerence was coined in 1979, so it is a pretty new word. It refers to an obsessive passion or an intense infatuation with another person. The phrase black and white brings to mind older photographs and films. By putting these words together in the title of his chapbook, Nick tips off the reader that the poems in this chapbook are about his past obsessions. There is a haunting, confessional quality to these poems. They remind me of the sort of memories that sometimes come flooding back when we look at old photographs of loved ones from years gone by.

I reached out to Nick and asked him for more information about how he came to write Limerence in Black in White. Here is what he sent to me:

There’s no catharsis quite like writing, though it can be uncomfortable to confront the troubling corners of our past. I wrote Limerence in Black and White over about four months, but the chapbook’s “story” is my attempt to make sense of the unsettling chapters from my twenties and early thirties. The boundary between poetry and prose sometimes blurs here, and I allowed myself to put whatever I felt onto the page, disregarding strict rules or disciplinary boundaries. These words lived in my head for years, and it finally felt necessary to do something with them—to confront the persistent echoes of a difficult time. Some pieces are poems; others are more like prose, and a few are simply my attempts to speak to old experiences, what I call “print therapy.” This collection is unconventional, but I didn’t write it for credentials. I just wanted to feel better.

While living in Ohio for grad school, I became obsessed with Bruce Springsteen’s folk album, Nebraska. I couldn’t stop listening to it, and it’s been in heavy rotation ever since. In my second-year teaching at UNC Charlotte, I signed a contract with McFarland and Company for my first academic manuscript and had already written several chapters of my debut novel. When I learned that Scott Cooper had written and directed Deliver Me from Nowhere, a film about Springsteen recording Nebraska, I knew I had to see it. On a chilly October night in Charlotte, I went to a local cinema. Watching the film, I was struck by how similar our upbringings had been, and that Springsteen only wanted to record the album because he needed to cope with the thoughts that had haunted him for years. I was the last to leave the theater that night, and as I walked out, I realized it might finally be time to turn inward and have an honest conversation with myself about the failures and abrupt endings in my life—especially those I had little control over.

At the start of 2026, I stopped working on both my manuscript and novel so that I could start putting together what eventually became Limerence in Black and White. For the next several months, I would write a poem or a prose piece a week. When I wasn’t on campus, I would lock myself away in my apartment to write. I even spent spring break driving to Lumberton alone to reconnect with an old friend and revisit familiar places. When I came back, I finished the chapbook and started sending it out to whatever publisher I could find. Most said no, which I expected. I wrote this chapbook, and I did my best. I finally said what I needed to say, and if no one ever cared to publish it, I decided I could live with that.

The day my daughter was born, Bottlecap Press, a millennial-focused publisher that truly understood the project’s vision, offered me a deal. I accepted, and we worked together on everything from the blurb to the cover art. It was a great collaboration, and I am grateful that they were willing to give an unpublished writer like me a chance. I am deeply thankful to have this piece published and out in the world, but more importantly, I’m happy to be free and move on with my life.

For more information about Limerence in Black and White, please click on the following link: https://bottlecap.press/products/limenc

I thank Nick not only for sharing the story behind his poetry chapbook but also for showing that some writers cannot be easily pigeonholed. Nick is an example of a Storied Charlotte scholar and poet who can move from writing scholarly prose to penning personal poems and succeed in both endeavors.

Tags: Nick Canada Poetry Chapbook

An Exhibition of Amy Hart’s Photographs from Litmosphere

September 19, 2026 by Mark West

A few months ago I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about the publication of the Spring 2026 issue of Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit. In my post, I wrote that “the issue is profusely illustrated by stunning photographs by Charlotte photographer Amy Hart.” Well, I am pleased to report that these photographs are now on exhibit in the Projective Eye Gallery located in UNC Charlotte’s Dubois Center.

The exhibition will kick off with a free public reception on September 24 at 6:00 p.m., at the Projective Eye Gallery in the Dubois Center, 320 East 9th Street. Amy will talk about her work, and several local writers featured in the show will read from their works. Registration is requested, here.

The exhibition will run until October 16, 2026. More show info is here.

I contacted Kathie Collins, the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Charlotte Lit and the Editor-in-Chief of Litmosphere, and I asked her for more information about this exhibition. Here is what she sent to me:

We loved working with Amy Hart on the Spring 2026 issue of Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit earlier this year and were thrilled to get the call from UNC Charlotte about partnering to exhibit Amy’s photos, along with the paired poems and story excerpts, for a run at the Dubois Center’s Projective Eye Gallery. It’s always a joy to share the power of literature with community members and an even more rewarding experience to bring literature in conversation with other art forms. This exhibit and the September 24^th Reception and Poetry Reading mark the first of what we hope will be many collaborations with the University.

In addition to being a talented photographer, Amy is a fantastic writer and a diligent curator. She took great care to match images with poems and stories in ways that elevate or bring some new awareness to both. Amy is a longtime Charlotte Lit member and a generous volunteer. We couldn’t be happier that her photography is getting the kind of recognition it deserves, and we’re hopeful this exhibit will help bring awareness of Charlotte Lit and Litmosphere to new audiences. Speaking of which, the Fall 2026 issue of Litmosphere, featuring some fabulous new poems and stories, along with outstanding artwork by Jill Goldman-Callahan, goes live on Monday, September 21. Readers can read both issues at https://litmosphere.charlottelit.org.

I also contacted Amy Hart, and I asked her for more information about her work as a photographer. Here is what she sent to me:

The images I treasure most are the ones that look more like paintings than photographs and are created without effort—just a bit of magic and the fine art of paying attention. It’s pure poetry when it happens.

I search for simplicity, unobscured vistas, open spaces that breathe the vibrant energy and calming spirit of our natural world. In stillness, there is peace, in peace everything connects harmoniously. In any setting, my intention is always to capture the essence of the moment. When capturing a landscape or still life outdoors, I hope to share a sense of connection to this life force that brings us all back to our only true home—planet earth and the pulsing universe beyond.

As I’ve focused on the Litmosphere project, both the publication and the art show, it’s been a balm to sink back into the person who got me into photography in the first place: a creative artist who looks at the world and sees astounding beauty, imagining it all as a watercolor painting—a little hazy, dreamy, and quiet. It’s an honor to share the poetry of imagery with you.

I am deeply grateful to Charlotte Lit co-founders, Kathie Collins and Paul Reali, for inviting me to curate my personal fine art and work collaboratively with them to find the visual resonance between the artwork and Litmosphere’s brilliant poetry and prose. I am also deeply grateful to the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture for mounting the Litmosphere art show in their beautiful gallery in Uptown Charlotte. Thank you.

I congratulate everyone involved with making this exhibition a reality. This exhibition is a collaborative effort involving Amy Hart, Charlotte Lit, UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture, and the DuBois Center. As I see it, such collaboration requires a sense of community, and my Storied Charlotte blog is all about celebrating community.

Tags: Amy Hart Litmosphere

‘Tis the Season to Write

September 12, 2026 by Mark West

Last week I received an email message from Barbara (Bay) Yager, the President of the Charlotte Writers Club, with the following re message: “Charlotte Writers Club’s 2026-2027 Season.” Her email sparked my curiosity about the evolution of the word season, so I did a little research. The word can be traced back to the Old French agricultural term seison, which means sowing or planting. From there, the word evolved to encompass the particular time of the year when it is best to plant certain crops. This gave rise to the now four familiar divisions on the year, but the focus was still on how these divisions relate to agricultural activities. In time, the term came to be associated with non-agricultural activities that were tied to particular seasons, such as the connection between baseball and summer. By the late 19^th century, the term baseball season was in widespread use in the United States. In the 20^th century, the meaning of term season expanded to include a recurring series of related events, such as performances or even television episodes, that take place over the course of a defined timeframe although not necessarily within one calendar season, and that brings us to the “Charlotte Writers Club’s 2026-2027 Season.”

I informed Bay that I would be happy to share information about the Charlotte Writers Club’s upcoming season. She provided me with the following details about their season:

Writing may happen alone, but writers don’t have to go it alone. At the Charlotte Writers Club, we believe writers grow through exchanging ideas, learning from others, and being part of a creative community.

In September, our third-Tuesday monthly meetings at Providence United Methodist Church begin with Meagan Church, instant New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Mad Wife, discussing empathy and compelling characters. The season also features Carol Baldwin on historical fiction, Sharon Kurtzman, author of The Lost Baker of Vienna, on transforming family stories into fiction, literary agents Jamie Chambliss and Kaitlyn Katsoupis reading first pages of unpublished manuscripts, award-winning essayist Patrice Gopo in conversation with Dave Collins, PhD, and poet Juanita Kirton on writing as a communal act. We close the season with UNC Charlotte’s Mark West, Kimmery Martin, and Jay Ward exploring the question, Should Writers Be Advocates?

Our Saturday workshops give writers the opportunity to dig more deeply into craft and publishing. Sarah Archer leads two sessions, one on mastering the Hero’s Journey and another on querying literary agents; bestselling author Meagan Church explores creating compelling characters; Tiffany Grantham leads a writing inspiration session, Lisa Williams Kline, Gilda Morina Syverson, and Ann Campanella offer a conversation about book publishing; Lisa Otter Rose leads a hands-on workshop on creating a book of prompts; and poet and playwright David Radavich leads our six-week Poet’s Table seminar for poets working toward publication.

Beyond meetings and workshops, CWC offers critique groups, Open Mic events, a Saturday virtual writing salon, beta readers, and contests. Together, these programs create opportunities to learn from other writers, develop new skills, share work, and find a writing community.

Our new season begins in September. Whether you are beginning to write, polishing a manuscript, or already published, there is a place for you at the Charlotte Writers Club—Where Writers Connect.

For more information about the Charlotte Writers Club, please click on the following link: https://charlottewritersclub.org

I thank Bay for the information about the CWC’s latest season. For over a century, the club has provided its members with a supportive environment to share drafts of stories, poems, and essays. Through its sponsorship of contests, the club has created opportunities for members to celebrate each other’s creative endeavors. By bringing in accomplished writers as speakers and workshop leaders, the club has facilitated the sharing of writing and publishing tips that members can use in order to achieve their own successes as writers. All in all, the Charlotte Writing Club has shown how writers can work together to build a community. This sense of community helps explain why the Charlotte Writers Club is such a Storied Charlotte institution, for the importance of community never goes out of season.

Tags: Charlotte Writers Club

Poets Responding to Moments of Crisis

September 05, 2026 by Mark West

It was a September day, and our nation was under attack. Famous landmarks were smoldering in ruin, and our national resolve was being put to the test. In the midst of this bleak situation, a poet took up his pen and put into words that feelings that many Americans were wrestling with at the time. The poet’s name was Francis Scott Key. On September 14, 1814, he wrote a poem about the British bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and the American defense of the fort. He called his poem “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” but we know it as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Sometimes it takes poets to put into words our feelings when facing moments of crisis. One such moment was September 11, 2001. Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, Joseph Bathanti, a former North Carolina Poet Laureate, and David Potorti, a co-founder of September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, co-edited a poetry anthology titled Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11 & Its Aftermath. The anthology includes works by poets from across North Carolina, including many poets from the Charlotte area. The contributors to this anthology all responded to the destruction associated with 9/11 by creating poetry. Some of their poems are about loss—the loss of loved ones, the loss of landmarks, the loss of a sense of security. Some of their poems are about the personal experiences of the poets on that tragic day. Some of the poems are reflections on how the events of 9/11 have changed our lives, beliefs, and values.

I am pleased to report that the Charlotte Center for the Literary Arts, more commonly known as Charlotte Lit, is sponsoring a public reading of some of these poems. This reading will take place on September 11, 2026. I contacted Paul Reali, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Charlotte Lit, and asked him for more information about this poetry reading. Here is what he sent to me:

Five years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Press 53 released a remarkable anthology, Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11 & Its Aftermath. The volume, edited by Joseph Bathanti and David Potorti, featured 116 poets from across North Carolina, reflecting on a defining moment in American history.

In September 2021, Charlotte Lit was privileged to host one of the statewide readings, hearing a dozen of the contributors read their works to a rapt (and masked) audience at Charlotte Lit’s original home on Central Avenue.

On this September 11th, the 25th anniversary of the attacks, we are again honored to host a new night of readings from Crossing the Rift by a dozen Charlotte-area poets, hosted by Bathanti (co-editor, contributor, and former state poet laurate). The stellar lineup includes Ann Campanella, Christopher Davis, Irene Blair Honeycutt, Stephen Knauth, Tootsie O’Hara, Alan Michael Parker, Diana Pinckney, Lew Powell (reading for the late Dannye Romine Powell), David Radavich, Gilda Morina Syverson, Richard Allen Taylor, and Dede Wilson.

Much has happened in the five years since Crossing the Rift was published, but as Bathanti writes in an upcoming Charlotte Lit blog post, “we find ourselves, in so many ways, exactly where we were as a nation,” still shaped by 9/11 and its aftermath. “In fact, it’s very easy to argue that we are currently in a much more precarious, seemingly out-of-control and utterly surreal place. Thus, Crossing the Rift remains vital (au courant), with its voices calling out for peace, civility, tolerance, love, hope, and human dignity.”

Everyone is welcome to join us at Charlotte Lit’s Uptown studio Friday, September 11, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. for this evening of poetry and remembrance. Free, with registration requested at https://charlottelit.configio.com/nc-poets-remember

I thank Paul for providing me with this information about Charlotte Lit’s upcoming evening of poetry and remembrance. I also thank the poets who will be participating in this event for sharing their responses to 9/11 with all of us here in Storied Charlotte.

Tags: 9/11 Charlotte Lit Poetry Reading

Honoring Dolly Parton and Her Imagination Library

August 29, 2026 by Mark West

As an admirer of Dolly Parton and a long-time supporter of her Imagination Library initiative, I was saddened when I heard that she had died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80. Parton has left a lasting mark on our culture in many ways, but of all her accomplishments, the one that she saw as being the most significant was creating her Imagination Library. Launched in 1995, Parton’s Imagination Library mails free picture books to preschool-aged children on a monthly basis. Imagination Library started in Parton’s home state of Tennessee, but the program was such a hit that Parton decided to expand its reach, joining forces with literacy organizations around the country and elsewhere in the world in an effort to provide millions of children with free books. In the Charlotte area, the Imagination Library works with Smart Start of Mecklenburg County.

When I heard the news of Parton’s passing, I reached out to Mike Blackwelder, the Chief Executive Officer of Smart Start of Mecklenburg County. I asked him to comment on the Imagination Library and its connections to Charlotte. Here is what Mike sent to me:

Mike Blackwelder Standing Next to a Cutout of Dolly Parton

As a lifelong fan of Dolly Parton, this has been a tough week. The news of Dolly’s passing was a shock that I am still processing. I’ve listened to countless hours of her music, read books by and about her, seen her in concerts, traveled to see museum exhibits and performances, and was planning to see the Broadway debut of her new musical this winter. When I received the first of many media requests this week, I didn’t think I could do it without getting emotional. I have since learned that in addition to talking about Smart Start’s work, I will always accept an opportunity to talk about Dolly.

Smart Start of Mecklenburg County has been the local champion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library since 2014. The program first launched in Charlotte’s 28205 zip code through the efforts of local supporters – NoDa Brewing Company, Hearts Beat as One Foundation, and Twirl to the World Foundation. In 2017, the state of North Carolina began funding the program statewide, and we expanded to serve families across all of Mecklenburg County. Since that expansion, we have mailed more than 5.3 million free books to local children and families. At any given time, approximately 40,000 children throughout the county are enrolled, and we now deliver around 377,000 books annually.

The program works the way Dolly intended it to — simply. Any Mecklenburg County family with a child from birth to age five can register, and each month a new, age-appropriate book arrives in the mail addressed to that child. There are no income requirements and no cost to families. Research consistently shows that children who are read to regularly develop stronger language, literacy, and school readiness skills, and the first 2,000 days of a child’s life are a critical window for that kind of development. By putting books directly into homes, the Imagination Library helps families build reading routines during the years when the brain is growing fastest.

We have also been growing the program in ways that reflect the diversity of Charlotte’s families. Since June 2024, we have offered a bilingual book option, and about 10% of families have enrolled in it. We also established our “Little Libraries” initiative, repurposing old newspaper vending boxes to provide access to free books and the program throughout the community. The Imagination Library has distributed over 300 million books worldwide, with more than 3 million going out to registered children each month. Across North Carolina alone, nearly 25 million books have been mailed to families since the statewide expansion.

Dolly understood that a book can spark imagination, build vocabulary, strengthen family bonds, and set children on a path of lifelong learning. We see her legacy in the millions of books delivered, and in the quiet moments when parents and caregivers sit down to read with their children. We are proud and grateful to carry her vision forward in Mecklenburg County.

As it turns out, all of the media requests, emails, and conversations this week have been a healing process for me. While there have been tears, there hasn’t been one time that I’ve talked about Dolly without smiling; her energy and positivity are contagious even now. People keep asking what they can do in remembrance of Dolly, and the answer is simple – be more like Dolly. The world would be a better place if we all had even a small amount of the genuine love for humanity that radiated from Dolly Parton.

For more information about Smart Start of Mecklenburg County and its connections to Parton’s Imagination Library, please click of the following link: https://www.smartstartofmeck.org/news/2026-08/honoring-dolly-partons-legacy-right-here-mecklenburg-county.htm

I thank Mike and everyone at Smart Start of Mecklenburg County for bringing Parton’s Imagination Library to Storied Charlotte.

Tags: Dolly Parton Imagination Library Mike Blackwelder Smart Start of Mecklenburg County

Erika Ferrari Lopez and Her New Children’s Book

August 22, 2026 by Mark West

Charlotte author Erika Ferrari Lopez burst on the children’s literature scene in 2023 with the publication of her debut children’s book, The Adventures of Amazing Grace. In a glowing review that appeared in Kirkus, the reviewer proclaimed, “This diverting, good-natured tale, like its indelible young hero, soars.” Encouraged by the positive response to her first book, Erika has written a sequel titled The Adventures of Amazing Grace: Secrets of the Time Machine, which just came out this month.

I contacted Erika and asked her about the story behind her Amazing Grace books. Here is what she sent to me:

My family moved to Charlotte in 2015 from Northern Virginia. We settled into the Dilworth neighborhood and love the walkability to restaurants and visiting Freedom Park. I began writing memoir and essays after hearing Kathy Izard speak at my church and subsequently meeting her for coffee. She has since become a mentor, and I even worked for her when she launched her children’s picture book, A Good Night for Mr. Coleman.

My writing group WordPlay, run by Maureen Ryan Griffin, has taught me so much about writing, story structure, pacing, and voice. The authors in the group write everything-poetry, fiction, memoir- and when I told them I was switching gears from essays to a 3^rd grade novel, they were all supportive and excited to help The Adventures of Amazing Grace fly into the world.

The inspiration for The Adventures of Amazing Grace came from a dream. A few years after my mother passed away from pancreatic cancer, I dreamt that I showed my mom that I could hover over a puddle. My mom responded, “That’s wonderful! Watch this!” and flew up to the ceiling of a great auditorium. Then she taught me how to fly higher and further than I ever thought possible.

The next evening, my eight-year-old daughter, Sophia, asked me to tell her a bedtime story. I began, “There once was a girl named…”, “Grace!” my daughter interrupted. “And Grace realized she could fly…” I continued.

Our bedtime story ended up lasting weeks, and at some point, Sophia begged me to write it all down. I would race to the computer every night after my daughter fell asleep to capture the story in writing. The next two years were spent writing and editing, sharing and receiving feedback from beta readers, and finally bringing the story to life in The Adventures of Amazing Grace.

The first book follows 3^rd grader Grace as she discovers that she has inherited the gift of flight from her female, Guatemalan ancestors. The book features Spanish words and phrases translated in the margins and is formatted in a dyslexic-friendly font and format for accessibility. Themes include overcoming fear to listen to your heart and using your gifts in the world.

The sequel, Secrets of the Time Machine, released on Friday, August 21, 2026. This book is an exciting time-travel adventure with the same lovable characters from the first book and more Spanish words and phrases translated throughout. Like the first book, it is formatted in a dyslexic-friendly font and format, but we also discover that Grace is dyslexic in this book. With real-life depictions of dyslexia in the classroom and at home, children can see themselves in the pages of the story and build empathy for others. Themes include learning from the past, cycle-breaking, and forgiveness.

Both books are geared toward 2^nd-4^th graders, but they can be enjoyed as a read aloud to younger children, or as a short read for anyone who loves stories of friendship, family, and magic.

In reading other books with my daughter, I noticed the lack of positive, exciting stories for middle grade readers that feature strong female protagonists and healthy friendships. I also realized how underrepresented children that had grown up in bilingual households are in children’s literature. As an author, I enjoyed incorporating elements from our own lives and culture into the books. Grace is bicultural—her dad is from Argentina and her mom is from Guatemala. Her family eats empanadas and tamales. Characters speak Spanish and English.

Learning that my own daughter is dyslexic led to the dyslexia depictions and formatting, because dyslexic children should see themselves in stories as well. Especially since my daughter co-created the first book! I use my author Instagram platform to highlight information about learning disabilities and bilingual and cultural information. Parents and educators can find ‘highlights’ about Dyslexia, ADHD, and other topics on my profile page as well as podcast episodes in my links.

My favorite part about this journey has been sharing about the books and the writing process in author visits to schools. Over the last three years, I have visited various schools in CMS, private schools, and dyslexia-focused schools in NC, SC, GA, and TX. I believe that representation is so important and bringing a book with a little Latina girl on the cover to schools with high Latin American populations, or a book that depicts dyslexia to schools that serve children with learning disabilities has been so powerful. I’ve received beautiful thank you notes from students that say “thank you for writing a book for kids like me,” and I will never get over that.

Local stores have been incredible to work with, especially Park Road Books, that hosted my first book’s launch in 2023 and will host the first talk and signing for this book on August 29^th at 3pm. CLT Find has been another great partner, carrying my books in both of their locations. I am attending Books on the House Bookapalooza at Truist Field for the first time this year and frequently participate in Front Paige book fairs at OMB and other locations in Charlotte.

I’m partnering with a wonderful non-profit called Generation WE to bring a writing workshop called “The Adventures of Amazing YOU” to Charlotte-area schools. I’m also working with Despierta, a Charlotte non-profit that serves Latina youth and women with empowerment and mental health support, to bring programming based on the inspirational messages from the books to their Bonita Rising participants.

For more information about Erika and her books, please click on the following link: https://www.erikaferrarilopez.com

For more information about Erika’s upcoming book signing at Park Road Books on August 29 from 3:00 to 4:00, please click on the following link: https://parkroadbooks.com/event/2026-08-29/erika-ferrari-lopez-discusses-her-new-book-secrets-time-machine

I congratulate Erika on the publication of Secrets of the Time Machine. Erika’s Amazing Grace books are welcomed additions to the amazing and diverse collection of children’s books by Storied Charlotte writers.

Tags: Erika Ferrari Lopez

Martin Settle’s New Poetry Chapbook

August 15, 2026 by Mark West

The Charlotte Center for Literary Arts, more commonly known as Charlotte Lit, regularly posts an online newsletter that they call Lit Weekly. I always read each issue, and that is where I saw the news about Charlotte Lit Press’s publication of Martin (Marty) Settle’s new poetry chapbook. Titled The Wild Garlic Manifesto, this chapbook has an official release date of August 18, 2026.

Marty and I go back many years. I have been following his writing career since he published his first book, a poetry collection titled The Teleology of Dunes, with Main Street Rag press in 2015. From his first book to his newest release, Marty has written about nature and humans’ interactions with the natural world. In The Wild Garlic Manifesto, Marty approaches nature with a sense of awe but also with an urgent sense of purpose as is reflected in his use of the word “manifesto” in the title of his collection. For Marty, developing an appreciation of the wonders of nature is a cause that has both individual and societal benefits. I contacted Marty and asked him for more information about The Wild Garlic Manifesto. Here is what he sent to me:

The Wild Garlic Manifesto is my ninth book and fourth book of poetry. I am proud to say that I am a Charlotte writer and that all my books have been written and published while I resided in Charlotte. I am equally proud to say that this particular book will be published by Charlotte Lit, an amazing organization in Charlotte for all things writerly.

In The Wild Garlic Manifesto, the central image is a shock of wild garlic leaves in the midst of a manicured grass lawn. The garlic has defied all the chemicals and human effort to exterminate it. The grass lawn represents the fascist orderliness demanded from a government. Since the 1960s when I thrived as a hippie, I have always identified with the wild garlic. I was part of the underground that opposed the violence and pollution that always goes together with a totalitarian regime.

While The Wild Garlic Manifesto has poems that represent my activism in opposing our present government, it has many more poems that try to soothe our present predicament with nature’s wonder. I find so many of the philosophies and religions of our times unable to do anything but create confusion. They offer little solid to the imagination – post modernism, social constructionism, deconstruction, Christianity, and mythology. But nature is real and solid. To get meaning out of it, all ye need to do is to observe and be in awe of living things.

There are poems where I am caught up in the other-than-human imagination. What kind of imagination goes into birds that can not only migrate using magnetic forces and constellations, but can do so with one eye open, so that they can sleep and be awake at the same time? What is it like to find the luminescent Jack-o’-Lantern mushrooms in a forest at night, radiating like a pot of gold? How many of us have been to the Parkway to view the awe of the mountains when right behind us is a vertical bog just as awesome? All these questions are addressed in poetry in The Wild Garlic Manifesto.

Finally, this chapbook is, using Rebecca Elson phrase, “a responsibility to awe.” It is not enough for me to experience awe; I find that I must respond to it with poems. My hope is that these poems will publicly fulfill this duty and allow others to ride this wave of this inspiration.

For more information about The Wild Garlic Manifesto, please click on the following link: https://charlottelit.org/press/chapbooks

I congratulate Marty on the publication of The Wild Garlic Manifesto, and I commend Charlote Lit Press for publishing such poetry chapbooks. Charlotte Lit Press has published several poetry chapbooks that celebrate the wonders of nature, so Marty’s chapbook is in good company here in Storied Charlotte.

Tags: Martin Settle poetry collection

On the Writing of a Collaborative Mystery Novel

August 07, 2026 by Mark West

Earlier this summer, Sandra Warren contacted me about a new mystery novel that she and four other area authors had collaboratively written. Their novel, Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery, is set an “active adult community,” which is a phrase people use these days when referring to 55+ communities.

As a scholar, I often engage in collaborative projects, but collaborating on a scholarly work and collaborating on a novel are two entirely different enterprises. When I learned about the novel that Sandra and her collaborators had written, I was reminded of The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner collaboratively wrote in 1873. Twain and Warner were neighbors in Hartford, Connecticut, and they took on the project at the suggestion of their wives while they were all together at a dinner party. In the end, this satirical novel helped define the graft and excessive materialism associated with American culture during the late 19^th century, but the process of writing the novel did not go very smoothly.

If Twain and Warner had trouble melding their two different writing styles, I wondered how Sandra and her collaborators were able to meld the different writing styles of five writers. I contacted Sandra and asked her about how she and her collaborators were able to work together on a jointly written novel. Here is what she sent to me:

Writers tend to be solitary people, burrowed alone for hours each day at their desk, tapping out what they hope will become the next great novel; a classic for readers to enjoy until the end of time. So, it’s hard to imagine a collaboration of two writers ever agreeing on anything. Five writers working together sounds like a recipe for failure, fights and loss of friendship. But that didn’t happen with a group that now calls themselves the Lake Norman Writers Guild. In fact, if you listened at the door of their writing room you would have heard nothing but friendly conversation, amicable compromise and raucous laughter.

How did two poets, Annette Larkin and John Stickney, a sci-fi writer, James Salkeld, and two historical fiction writers, E. Jax Willoughby and Sandra Warren, meet, and what was their collaborative secret?

The writers all met at Trilogy Lake Norman, in Denver, one of several over-55 communities, in and around the greater Charlotte area. John came from Ohio, Sandra & Vicki from other parts of North Carolina, and James and Jax from Charlotte. Sandra, Vicki and John attend monthly meetings, workshops, open Mic nights and classes as members of the Charlotte Writers Club.

The secret to their successful collaboration was, first and foremost, respect. Even though not everyone was published, the writers respected each other’s imagination, creativity and writing skills. No one writer had more control than the other.

It began with the suggestion that it would be fun to write a murder mystery together. After the laughter died down, the big question was how? The writers started off hit and miss, and finally came up with a method that worked for them. It may not work for any other group.

In the beginning, everyone prepared a one-page murder mystery idea to be read and voted upon at the next meeting. The concept of a party where a ‘murder game’ is played, was chosen.

For the next meeting, character profiles were needed for the party hosts, the primary attendees, a victim, and the investigator of the crime. Each member created and developed a character profile to present. When the profiles were read, we were all amazed at the complexity of the characters, their physical descriptions, personalities and the secrets they held.

Our cozy crime novel was off to a great start!

The next challenge was to get each character to the party. Suggestions to think about included: their relationship to the hosts and to the other characters; what they wore; feelings about attending; did they go alone or with someone; how they got there; did they arrive early, on time, late. Each character’s role at the party was discussed and enhanced by the group.

The idea of where to start the novel and how it should proceed evolved from the in-depth character descriptions. At the next few meetings, various writers wrote a chapter or two and presented them to the group. Slowly, the framework of the crime, the plot, possible motives, and suspects emerged.

Critiquing the novel in progress, could have been the writers undoing, but it was agreed, right from the beginning, to put egos aside and work together with a “majority rules” mentality.

Chapter contributions were posted on Google Docs so each writer could read, critique and suggest changes via the comment feature. Punctuation and grammar were corrected immediately. Other concerns were brought to the next meeting for discussion and consensus.

One person in the group, James, used the Scrivener writing program to keep all the corrected versions of the novel together. Through Scrivener he was able to easily move chapters around, make changes, and eventually format the book and the eBook for publication.

The end result? A cozy crime mystery novel titled, Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery. The story marries a lighthearted look at life in an active adult community with daring and intrigue, when a “game of murder” goes horribly wrong.

In case you’re wondering, yes, a second cozy mystery is in process.

Auras of Deceit is available through Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats in English, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

The Lake Norman Writers Guild members are available for presentations and book discussions, in-person or via Zoom, individually or as a group. Contact: Sandra@arliebooks.com

The Lake Norman Writers Guild Members are:

Annette Larkin – Corporate escapee, life coach, world traveler, and aspiring poetess.

James Salkeld – a writer of a speculative fiction novel called The Empathy Circuit.

John Stickney – A poet. His poetry and short crime fiction has appeared in online and print magazines such as Tough,Needles, Thug Lit, and Demolition among others.

Sandra Warren – an award-winning author with publications in multiple genres. www.sandrawarren.com

E. Jax Willoughby –a writer of a historical fiction novel titled Comfort’s Rebellion. jaxwilloughby.com

I thank Sandra for reaching out to me and for providing the story behind the writing of Auras of Deceit, and I congratulate all the members of the Lake Norman Writers Guild on writing a murder mystery without murdering any of their fellow guild members in the process.

There is a famous line associated with the crime drama The Naked City, and the line goes “There are eight million stories in the naked city.” Well, I don’t know if there are eight million stories in Storied Charlotte, but our community has produced many good murder mysteries, including Auras of Deceit.

Tags: Lake Norman Writers Guild mystery novel