Storied Charlotte

Charlotte Lit Is Ready for the Autumnal Equinox

September 18, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

The autumnal equinox will take place on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 2:50 am, at which point summer will officially come to an end and fall will begin.  Now, I think it should take place at 2:23 am just to keep the 23-thing going, but the celestial bodies don’t care what I think. Since the celestial bodies are in charge, we will have to stick to 2:50 am.  The arrival of fall means that the daylight hours will dwindle a bit with each passing day, and that means that many of us will be spending more time indoors.  Well, the obvious corollary to that phenomenon is that we will have more time to write, and Charlotte Lit is here to help.

The good folks at Charlotte Lit are not letting the autumnal equinox sneak up on them.  They have scheduled a wide range of fall programming for all kinds of writers.  I contacted Paul Reali and Kathie Collins, the co-founders of Charlotte Lit, and I asked them for more information about their fall programs. Here is what they sent to me:

Mark, fall is an exciting time at Charlotte Lit. We’ve launched our full September-to-May calendar and we open entries for the 2024 Lit/South Awards.

Lit/South — we have to begin with our judges. We’re pinching ourselves, truly. In fiction, our judge is the great NC writer Clyde Edgerton. In creative nonfiction, the amazing Maggie Smith. And in poetry, Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown—who will also be here in person in May to headline our annual Lit Up! event. They’ll help us award $6,000 in total prizes: $1,000 for the winner in each category, plus a shared $3,000 prize pool for the finalists. And, publication in Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit for all those plus selected semi-finalists. It’s open for just a month: October 1 to November 1, here: https://www.charlottelit.org/litsouth.

Writing classes — we have more than 50 on the calendar, so we’ll just highlight a few of the early ones. Almost all of these are on Zoom, so they’re easy for anyone to attend.

This Tuesday, September 19 — act now, it’s almost full! — former Mississippi Poet Laureate Beth Ann Fennelly leads a masterclass with the great title: “Build Me a Hummingbird of Words: Distilling Your Life Into a Flash.”

In fiction we have “Writing the Short Story,” three sessions with Craig Buchner starting September 26. “Manipulating Time in Fiction” with Paula Martinac is September 28.

In memoir, Judy Goldman — legendary teacher, her classes always fill up — leads another three-session class, “All About Me: Lessons on Writing Memoir,” beginning October 12.

In poetry, here are two events. To celebrate National Blank Poetry Day, we’ll host a free in-person conversation on literary citizenship, October 6, with NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and two Charlotte poets, Jah Smalls and city poet laurate Jay Ward. Jaki will also teach a master class the next day. Then, on October 24, Pulitzer Prize nominee Morri Creech teaches “The Expressive Power of Repetition: The Pantoum and the Villanelle.”

Finally, for writers trying to publish their work, we cover the wide span from poems to novels. Kathy Izard leads “Paths to Self-publishing” on October 17; and Ashley Memory leads “Publishing Short Pieces: Contests and Open Calls” on November 7.

There’s so much more, but that’s a good sample of what we’re doing. And for anyone who doesn’t know where to begin, we have a free writing session every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. called Pen to Paper. The best place to begin is: https://www.charlottelit.org/catalog

Storied Charlotte readers, we hope to see you or your pixels soon!

I thank Paul and Kathie for sharing this information about Charlotte Lit’s fall offerings.  I also thank Charlotte Lit for providing Storied Charlotte writers with a veritable cornucopia of writing opportunities.

The Origin Story of A. J. Hartley’s Hideki Smith, Demon Queller

September 10, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

The Origin Story of A. J. Hartley’s Hideki Smith, Demon Queller – Charlotte author A. J. Hartley has just released a young adult fantasy novel titled Hideki Smith, Demon Queller.   Like many of A. J.’s novels, Hideki Smith, Demon Queller focuses on a character who is something of an outsider.  In the case of A. J.’s new novel, the central character is a fifteen-year-old boy named Caleb Hideki Smith. He lives in a small town called Portersville located in the mountains of North Carolina.  He is half Japanese, but he has never paid much attention to his Japanese heritage until he is suddenly forced to deal with Japanese monsters that are threatening Portersville. 

A. J. has a long-standing interest in Japanese myths and folklore, and this interest is reflected in his latest novel.  Hideki Smith, Demon Queller is steeped Japanese mythology, especially the myths associated with shapeshifting.  However, the story also has deep connections biographical connections.  When he was a young man, A. J. spent two transformative years living in Japan.  The origins of this novel can be traced back to his experiences in Japan.  I recently contacted A. J. and asked him about the origins of Hideki Smith, Demon Queller.  Here is what he sent to me:

After my undergraduate degree, I moved to a little mountain town in Yamanashi, Japan, called Kofu, where I taught high-school English for two years. I met my wife, Hisako, there, who is Japanese-American and was taking a year between undergrad and grad school to work in the same town. Fast forward some thirty-five years, and we’re here in Charlotte with a college age son, Kuma. I’m now retired from my academic position as a Shakespeare professor at UNC Charlotte, and HIDEKI is my 25th published novel. It’s the first which has involved active collaboration with my family.

I had tried to tell a version of this story—which is deeply informed by Japanese folklore and mythology—ever since I lived in Kofu. In fact, I suspect that that side of Japan was part of the reason I went there in the first place. I’ve always been drawn to the strange and uncanny, and Japanese mythology is especially rich in that area, doubly so for people who didn’t grow up in that culture. But that sense of separateness was also part of the problem for telling the story. As much as I knew about Japan, it still didn’t feel like my own world, so trying to set a novel there proved impossible.

The breakthrough came when I decided to center the story on my son—or someone like him: a teenager growing up in a mixed-race family in North Carolina. That was absolutely something I knew and, with the help of my wife and son’s input, it was something I felt I could write.

The result is a YA adventure, a tale of shape-shifting Japanese monsters spilling inexplicably out of the Blue Ridge mountains, but a story rooted in questions of personal and cultural identity, how we adjust when we don’t quite fit in, how we find ourselves in spite of what people expect of us, and how we then carve out our place in the world. Which is not to say, of course, that it’s not a fun (and, hopefully, funny) journey, which will appeal to a wide range of readers across age groups, tastes, and ethnicities. After all, everyone feels alien, separate, and we recognize the same is true of other people even if they don’t actually turn out to be cleverly disguised supernatural foxes…

For readers who want to know more about A. J. and his various publications, please click on the following link:  https://ajhartley.net/ 

For readers who would like meet A. J. and hear him talk about Hideki Smith, Demon Queller, he is doing a book signing and talk at Park Road Books on Saturday, September 16, at 2:00 pm. Here is a link with more information about this event: https://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/author-aj-hartley-discusses-his-new-book-hideki-smith-demon-queller

I know that A. J. has been working on this novel for many years, and I am pleased that he has now completed it.  So far, I have read the first chapter, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the novel.  As I have said before, I feel fortunate that A. J. has made Storied Charlotte his home.   

Tags: Japanese mythologyyoung adult fantasy novel

Honoring Steve Crump and His Legacy as a Storyteller

September 04, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Honoring Steve Crump and His Legacy as a Storyteller – Steve Crump, the legendary Charlotte journalist and documentarian, died on August 31, 2023. Crump and I both arrived in Charlotte in 1984, and I have followed his career ever since then.  For many years, he worked as an on-air reporter for WBTV. I saw him on television so often that I had a sense that I knew him long before I actually met him in person.

My unexpected encounter with Crump occurred about fifteen years ago.  I was flying back to Charlotte after participating in an academic conference, and I arrived at the airport about an hour early.  As I was waiting in the gate area, I noticed Crump sitting about two seats away from me.  I recognized him immediately, and I decided to introduce myself to him.  He was very gracious and engaging.  He mentioned to me that he was returning to Charlotte after conducting an interview for a documentary that he was producing.  We talked a bit about this documentary, and I told him how much I enjoyed and respected his work.  He boarded the plane before I did, but he gave me a friendly wave when I walked by him as I made my way down the aisle of the plane.  As my chance meeting with Crump demonstrated, he was a kind and approachable person who had a gift for connecting with people.

Crump’s ability to forge connections with people from different backgrounds contributed to his success as a documentarian.  Through his award-winning documentaries, he told the stories of people who often go unnoticed by the mainstream media. In Airmen and Adversity, for example, he told the story of the Tuskegee Airmen and the role that they played in the Air Force during World War II.  In Hardship at Harvest, Crump focused on the lives of African American farmers in in the South during the Jim Crow era.  All in all, Crump produced about thirty documentaries, including nine that PBS distributed nationally.

In recognition of Crump’s many and varied contributions to our state, North Carolina Humanities selected Crump as the 2022 recipient of their John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities.  In announcing the award, North Carolina Humanities stated that Crump was “being honored for his lifelong dedication to creative documentary storytelling and truthful, in-depth news reporting.” 

Crump’s death followed his four-year battle with colon cancer.  During much of that time, he continued to work as a journalist and a storyteller.  Following the announcement of his death, many local journalists, political figures, and cultural leaders have expressed their appreciation for his contributions to our community. As these appreciations make clear, Steve Crump left an indelible mark on the history and culture of Storied Charlotte.

Tags: Documentaries

Celebrating the Release of Patrice Gopo’s Autumn Song

August 28, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Celebrating the Release of Patrice Gopo’s Autumn Song – I had the pleasure of visiting with Patrice Gopo at last year’s EpicFest, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s annual literary festival for children of all ages.  At the time, Patrice was doing a presentation based on her picture book titled All the Places We Call Home.  During our conversation, I asked her if she had new projects in the works, and she mentioned that she hoped to bring out a new collection of essays in the fall.  I had previously read her first essay collection, All the Colors We Will See:  Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way, which came out in 2018, and I told her that I was looking forward to the publication of her second essay collection. Well, I am pleased to report that the University of Nebraska Press will officially publish Patrice’s Autumn Song: Essays on Absence on September 1, 2023.  I contacted Patrice and asked her for more information about Autumn Song.  Here is what she sent to me:

After publication of my first essay collection, All the Colors We Will See (W Publishing, 2018), I found myself in a creative wilderness. The words seemed to disappear. In time, however, a new project—a collaborative project—called to me. For several months, I poured my energy into developing that work, only to realize by the autumn of 2019 that this collaborative project would not happen as I expected. I can look back on that season and recognize how sadness existed even as I tried to bounce back from the disappointment.

But that project that did not materialize was not the end of the writing story. Instead, just days later, the infancy of an idea emerged during a day trip with my family to the mountains, the idea that perhaps within me existed another essay collection. Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps. And then, in the early days of the pandemic, words returned to me after a time of absence.

Sometimes when I think back to the project that did not become a reality, I see how the absence of that project made room for the presence of something new. Ultimately, that absence inspired me to bring Autumn Song to life. This story reminds me how our disappointments can give way to unexpected gifts.

The title of this essay collection is so interesting because I’m not a musician or a singer of any sort. However, I am a person who believes in the power of sharing personal stories. To tell our stories, to speak of our experiences, is to sing a song that is part of who we are. Also, those closest to me know my favorite season is autumn: the way the temperatures turn, the color evident each day, the reminder that retreat is part of life. And the season of autumn often appears across this collection. In addition, the season of autumn has always served as a beautiful metaphor for a person’s maturing in age, thought, and understanding—a maturing that often helps us process the past but also see, with greater clarity, the years to come. Ultimately, I hope these two words in communion with each other, autumn and song, speak of what it means to voice the authentic grappling that comes with living life and to see the beauty that might exist there.

The subtitle arose after I let the essays forming the collection speak to me. As I saw the themes emerge across the collected work, as I considered experiences with loss and disappointment, injustice and inequity, change and the passage of time, I saw that the larger word to encompass all of this was absence. The reality is that absences in our lives exist. We will always continue to contend with heartache woven into the fabric of our existence. But we are not alone in this. I hope that in illuminating the absences I have noticed in and around me, I might also empower others to consider the absences in their lives.

One of my early beta readers for Autumn Song told me this is the “Charlotte collection.” I loved those words because she highlighted something I hadn’t noticed in the writing. But I knew such truth resided in that statement. The bio for my first essay collection included, “[Patrice] lives with her family in North Carolina—a place she has recently begun to consider another home.” My first essay collection was so much about my Alaskan childhood and search for a sense of belonging in the broader world. And now, as I return to the page with my second collection, I find that Autumn Song tangentially considers how this place where I live now has become another home. In this book, I write about the destruction of the old Brooklyn neighborhood, a snow day in Charlotte, the city’s desire for a more equitable world, and what it means to create a new home when you no longer live in your place of origin. I ponder these moments through my unique lens because of the story I have lived.

As readers engage with the words, I believe they will recognize the varied ways we live lives littered with what we leave behind. In addition, whether or not we fully realize it, we are asking ourselves what do we do with the different types of heartache we encounter across our lives. As readers finish Autumn Song, I hope they will understand that the presence of absence may tell another tale—one of invitation to experience life and see life from another perspective. Despite the challenges and struggles, flashes of glory glimmer like starlight, leading us toward the possibility of grieving losses, finding healing, and allowing ourselves to be changed.

If you’d like to learn more, please visit my website: www.patricegopo.com, and subscribe to my newsletter: www.patricegopo.com/subscribe  

I wish Patrice the very best with the release of Autumn Song, and I am looking forward to reading the essays in her new collection.  Patrice has a gift for writing personal essays that deal with her unique experiences but at the same time, speak to universal themes. As I see it, Patrice is one of Storied Charlotte premiere essayists.

Tags: Personal Essays

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Jericho Brown’s Upcoming Lecture at CPCC

August 21, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Jericho Brown’s Upcoming Lecture at CPCC – I am pleased to report that the renowned poet Jericho Brown will give a free lecture at CPCC next month.  When I first heard this news, I set out to learn more details.  I ended up exchanging a series of email messages with Liza Zerkle, who is a member of the literary committee organizing this event, and she agreed to provide me with more information.  Here is what she sent to me:

Jericho Brown, author of the poetry collection The Tradition for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, gives the Irene Blair Honeycutt Distinguished Lecture at Central Piedmont Community College. Free and open to the public, this event will be held on the Main Campus in the Dale Halton Theatre at 11 am on Thursday, September 14. Brown directs the Creative Writing Program at Emory University.

Brown’s poetry has been published widely, including in such publications as The New York Times, The New Yorker, TIME magazine, and in several volumes of The Best American Poetry. His honors and awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting Award. He served as editor for the new anthology How We Do it: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill. In The Tradition, Brown employs a new poetic form of his own invention called a “duplex” that combines a sonnet, a ghazal, and the blues. Author and poet Claudia Rankine says Brown’s poems offer their readers a window into his “devastating genius.” For more information about Brown and his poetry, please click on the following link:  https://www.jerichobrown.com/

The Irene Blair Honeycutt Distinguished Lectureship, initiated in 2006, honors Irene Blair Honeycutt’s role as founder of the Spring Literary Festival at Central Piedmont Community College (which later became the Sensoria Festival). For thirty-seven years, Honeycutt served as a creative writing instructor and impacted the lives of many students. The lectureship recognizes and honors her service to the community by bringing a noted author to give a public lecture.

I thank Lisa for providing the information about this event.  I also thank everyone involved in bringing Jericho Brown to Charlotte. Most of all, I thank Irene Blair Honeycutt for her many and varied contributions to Storied Charlotte—it’s fitting that this special lecture is named in her honor. 

Tags: poetry

Two New Picture Books for the New School Year

August 14, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Two New Picture Books for the New School Year – The other day I stopped by Park Road Books where I ran into Sherri Smith and Halli Gomez, two of the people who work at the store.  Both Sherri and Halli regularly read my Storied Charlotte blog posts, so we chatted a bit about the blog.  I asked them if they were aware of any new books by Charlotte authors that I should feature on my blog, and they told me about the recent publication of several picture books by Charlotte authors and illustrators.  When I expressed an interest in taking a look at these books, they scurried out from behind the front desk and started handing me picture books.  Here’s some information about two of these new picture books, both of which are perfect for the start of a new school year.

The first book that Sherri and Halli showed me was Like Lava in My Veins by Derrick Barnes.  Derrick is an award-winning Charlotte author whose previous children’s books include I Am Every Good Thing and Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, which received a Newbery Honor Award, a Coretta Scott King Honor Award, and the Ezra Jack Keats Award.   Like Lava in My Veins is illustrated by Shawn Martinbrough, a well-known comics artist.

Like Lava in My Veins has the look of a superhero comic book.  It features a young superhero named Bobby Beacon, who has the power of “light and fire.”  The story begins with Bobby enrolling in the Academy of Kids with Awesome Abilities where he meets other kids who have superpowers.  Bobby biggest challenge is learning how to control his hot temper, but an understanding teacher helps him learn how to stay calm and use his powers for good.  Like several of Derrick’s other books, Like Lava in My Veins celebrates the creativity and potential of Black boys. 

For more information about Derrick and his books, please click on the following link:  https://derrickdbarnes.com/

The second book Sherri and Halli brought to my attention was Shy Robin and the First Day of School, which is both written and illustrated by Jaime Kim.  Born in South Korea, Jamie moved to the United States at the age of eighteen.  She now lives in Charlotte.  Jaime has pursued a successful career as an illustrator of picture books by various authors, but she has recently turned to both writing and illustrating picture books, including Ready for the Spotlight!

Shy Robin and the First Day of School is intended for young children who feel anxious about going to school.  This story is about Robin, a shy hippo who wants to hide as soon as she enters the classroom.  On her first day of school, she meets Marco, an otter who is also shy.  As the story progresses, Robin and Marco forge a friendship.  On the surface, this picture book is about the experience of starting school, but on a deeper level it’s a story about overcoming fears, making friends, and gaining self-confidence.

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

Like Lava in My Veins and Shy Robin and the First Day of School both deal with the complex feelings that children experience when they start school.  These emotions change as children grow older, but the start of a new school year always elicits a mixture of excitement and anxiety no matter how old the students might be.  These two new picture books by Storied Charlotte authors can help kids deal with these emotions and make their new school year a big success.

Tags: picture books

Celebrating Classic Road-Trip Films with Sam Shapiro

August 07, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Celebrating Classic Road-Trip Films with Sam Shapiro – About a year ago, I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about the opening of the Independent Picture House, Charlotte’s only arthouse cinema.  In the year since then, the Independent has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Not only has it provided moviegoers with opportunities to see new foreign, arthouse, and independent films, but it has also shown notable films from yesteryear.  The person who is heading up the Independent’s programming of classic films is Sam Shapiro.  I contacted Sam and asked him for more information about the Independent’s classic film offerings.  Here is what he sent to me:

The Independent Picture House recently concluded its first year of operation, and I still wonder sometimes whether the beautiful venue at 4237 Raleigh Street has been a mirage. Obviously, it’s neither mirage nor fantasy, because I know for a fact that I attended 23 movies at the IPH between its June 2022 opening and first anniversary in June 2023. But if you are a film-lover in Charlotte, you’re probably aware that it had been years since this city had a movie theater that offered the type of exciting, if not eclectic, programming of the Independent Picture House. Foreign films, documentaries, “indie cinema”, “grindhouse cult” — it’s all there in the IPH’s three theaters. 

Did I also mention that this extraordinary theater presents classic films from yesteryear? A few months before the IPH opened, the theater’s manager Brad Ritter and film programmer Jay Morong suggested that I consider implementing a year-round monthly series that would showcase “older” films (classics and otherwise), American and foreign. This (tremendous) idea had occurred to Brad and Jay because they were aware of the fact that for many years I programmed and facilitated successful film programs for thr Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Those events regularly drew an enthusiastic audience, proving (as if there needed proof) there was a receptive audience in this city for cinema that was neither Hollywood nor ‘mainstream’.

We recently concluded the first film series at the IPH, which began last February and concluded two weeks ago with the 1982 German detective/cyberpunk film KAMIKAZE 89. The film series was titled “Night Must Fall: International Crime Films”. And we’re wasting no time getting started with the second monthly series, beginning in mid-August and concluding next February (2024). The new film series is titled “Wanderers of the Lost Highways”, and the following is the official description of the series: 

“Embark on a cinematic road trip through 1970s-era America. “Wanderers of the Lost Highways” showcases artistically daring films from a decade in which the ‘Hollywood vibe’ tended to be existential, uncompromising, and narcotic. Over the course of seven films, you will encounter a variety of unforgettable characters – played by iconoclastic performers such as Warren Oates, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Max Julien, Jack Nicholson – as they traverse the vast plains and winding highways of America. And as the road unfurls, you’ll contemplate not only the vast physical landscape but the intricate depths of lost souls searching for meaning, identity, connection, and sometimes bloody revenge. So give your tires a kick and join us – as Jack Kerouac wrote “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” For more information about this film series, please click on the following link:  https://independentpicturehouse.org/film-series/lost-highways/

I look forward to seeing you at the Independent Picture House!

I thank Sam for the information on the “Wanderers of the Lost Highways” film series. I also congratulate everyone involved in the founding and operation of the Independent Picture House on an amazing first year.   Even though it is just one year old, the Independent Picture House has established itself as the cinematic hub of Storied Charlotte.  

Tags: Classic Films

New Children’s and YA books by Charlotte Authors

July 31, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

New Children’s and YA books by Charlotte Authors – In the world of children’s and YA literature, Charlotte is gaining a reputation as a happening place. Charlotte is home to many successful children’s and YA authors, and they are always bringing out new books.  Three recent examples are Amalie Jahn’s A Walk Between Raindrops, Rebecca Laxton’s The Metamorphosis of Emma Murry, and Anna Sortino’s Give Me a Sign.  I contacted the authors of these books and asked them about their new novels and their experiences as Charlotte writers.

Amalie’s A Walk Between Raindrops is a YA novel about two sisters who win an all-expense paid, fourteen-day trip to the best amusement parks in the country to ride rollercoasters.  The sisters have a strained relationship, but they attempt to heal their relationship over the course of this trip.  Here is what Amalie sent me:

A Walk Between Raindrops received a star from Kirkus Reviews, which called it “a superior, sisterly road drama with a last-act surprise.” Any Charlotteans who’ve spent time at Carowinds will recognize the scenes taking place at the Carolina theme park, along with other parks along the east coast like Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and Six Flags. I spent my childhood riding coasters all over the country, but despite the number of coasters I’ve sampled over the years, the Fury and Intimidator are definitely at the top of my list (although these days amusement park rides require Dramamine.) Please don’t ask me to ride the Nighthawk with you, though. Once was enough, thanks anyway.

After a ten-year stint writing for young adults, I recently sold a middle-grade series to Pixel + Ink who will be publishing the first book in the series, Team Canteen and the Magic Boa, in Fall of 2024. For more information about my books, visit my website: https://www.amaliejahn.com/

Rebecca’s The Metamorphosis of Emma Murry is a middle-grades mystery with an environmental theme.  Here is what Rebecca sent to me:

My family moved to Charlotte twenty years ago. When we relocated here, our daughters were seven and four, and then our twins were born two weeks later. We love the Charlotte area; it’s been a wonderful place to raise our family.

I’m a reading specialist, and I started teaching reading in schools and private clinics in 2009.  A few years later, I took a children’s literature class at UNC Charlotte just for fun and loved it so much I enrolled in the graduate program to study children’s literature and creative writing. I’ve been so fortunate to be able to do what I love—teach kids to read and write books for them. It’s so fun! There’s a very supportive writing community here. I’m a member of Charlotte Lit and our local chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators where I facilitate a monthly critique group. Without the opportunities provided by these groups and UNC Charlotte, I would not be a children’s author today.

The Metamorphosis of Emma Murry is set in one of my favorite places—Black Mountain, North Carolina. In the story, thirteen-year-old Emma learns there’s a proposal to destroy the community monarch butterfly garden to build a ski resort, so she and her best friend Sophie rally their middle school environmental club to protest. But when it turns out homegrown celebrity Chester Scott and his teen son Jeb are the ones behind building the resort, Emma decides to make friends with Jeb to try and change their minds.

Then when a mysterious death threat is left at the Scotts’ house, Emma and Jeb team up to investigate, and begin to uncover supernatural secrets on the mountain. Meanwhile, Emma’s decision to befriend the enemy tests her friendship with Sophie, and Emma soon finds everything she loves in jeopardy —her friendships, the butterflies, and her family.

The chapter heading illustrations were drawn by my daughter Gracie, who studied art in Charlotte at both the Holt School of Art and Braitman Studio. She graduated from Central Academy of Technology and Arts in 2021. Recently, the novel won a Gold Mom’s Choice Award and three Purple Dragonfly Book awards. You can learn more about the book at my website https://www.rebeccalaxton.com/

Anna’s Give Me a Sign is a YA romance novel.  Here is what Anna sent to me:

I recently got to do a launch event at Park Road Books for my debut Give Me a Sign, and was so glad to be welcomed to the Charlotte community! This spring, we moved here to be closer to my partner’s family.

Give Me a Sign is a YA contemporary romance novel following seventeen-year-old Lilah as she becomes a counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind. Wearing hearing aids, she’s always felt caught in between hearing and deaf, not sure where she belongs. Pitched as Jenny Han meets CODA, this story is all about love, identity, and Deaf pride.

It was such a delight to write a story like this, full of representation I didn’t have growing up. There’s something truly universal about the “stuck in the middle” feeling that a lot of readers can relate to, even if they’re not deaf themselves, so it’s great to see the positive reception this story is getting. Currently I’m putting the finishing touches on my next YA novel, On the Bright Side, which releases summer 2024! Those interested can find out more at http://annasortino.com/

Amalie, Rebecca, and Anna are all part of a community of children’s and YA authors.  For readers who are interested in joining this community, the South Boulevard Branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has an upcoming event just for you.  Meghan Anderson, one of planners of the event, sent me the following information:

Do you want to write a children’s book? Charlotte has a wealth of children’s book writers and illustrators. South Boulevard Library is hosting a round-table discussion event with some of the best children’s book authors and illustrators in our city including Ashley Belote, Halli Gomez, Matt Myers, Maya Myers, and Derick Wilder. We will have picture book writers and illustrators, middle grade writers, and young adult writers. You will be able to rotate through each table where you can pick the brains of these fine creators to best access their knowledge, advice, and processes. Think of it like a mix of speed dating, industry inside information, and professional development! This event is open to all who are interested and at every level of the process, whether that be just in the idea stage or have already begun their writing or illustrations. If you’re interested in attending, please register at the link below!

Registration Link: https://cmlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/649b05170225e3df1083b51f

Location: South Boulevard Library

               4429 South Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28209

Date and Time: Thursday, August 17th from 5:45pm- 7pm

I thank Amalie, Rebecca, Anna, and Meghan for helping me with this week’s blog post and for their contributions to the community that I call Storied Charlotte.

Tags: Children's BooksYA Books

Storied Charlotte

July 24, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Honoring Rolfe Neill and His Contributions to Charlotte’s Community of Readers and Writers – Rolfe Neill, the publisher of The Charlotte Observer from 1975 until his retirement in December 1997, died on Friday, July 14, at the age of 90.  Even though I never met him, I felt like I knew him because I always read his columns that ran in the paper every Sunday.  His columns were thoughtful, gracefully written, and often personal in nature.  His deep love of Charlotte came through in his columns although he was certainly not blind to the city’s flaws. He had a knack for turning phrases and coming up with story angles that resonated with readers.  He clearly cared about the quality of his own writing, and he expected the same commitment to excellent writing from that the journalists who worked for the paper.  During his tenure as publisher, the paper won three Pulitzer Prizes.

In addition to serving as the publisher of The Charlotte Observer, Neill played a significant role in supporting Charlotte’s cultural institutions, including the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  Neill helped establish the library’s Novello Festival of Reading, which ran from 1991 until 2010.  Although Novello came to an end, the community spirit that defined Novello lives on today in the library’s annual Verse and Vino and EpicFest events. 

After his retirement, Neill became very involved in the activities of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation.  Jenni Gaisbauer, the Executive Director of the Foundation, sees him a “true library champion.” I contacted Jenni and asked her for more information about Neill’s support of the library.  Here is what she sent to me:

I met Rolfe during my tenure at Levine Museum of the New South but it wasn’t until I got to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation that I was able to get to know him on a more personal basis.  Something interesting I learned about Rolfe was that when we served on the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation board years ago, he encouraged them to think about funding public libraries as part of their work.  While it’s not one of their major pillars today, Knight Foundation is one of our largest donors for the new Main Library and has given us dozens of grants over the years.  None of that would’ve been possible without Rolfe and the leadership of former Charlotte leader for Knight Susan Patterson and/or Charles Thomas today.

He had a long history with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and was a consistent donor since 1999.  He played a pivotal role in the library securing the large Romare Bearden tile mosaic that was once showcased on the first floor of the Main Library and will once again have a prominent home inside the lobby of the new Main Library. Most recently, he served as an advisor to our current campaign, the CommonSpark.  He would sit down with Karen Beach (the Deputy Director of the Foundation) and me and tell us who we should ask to support the project. I can’t tell you how helpful it is when you reach out to someone to set up a meeting and you can say, Rolfe Neill encouraged me to reach out.

I thank Jenni for her recollections.  I also thank her sending me a photograph of Neill sitting in front of a cluster of book-related sculptures created to honor Neill’s contributions to Charlotte. This work is located on 7th Street in front of ImaginOn, which houses both the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s Spangler Library for Children and the Charlotte Children’s Theatre.  Given that so many children visit ImaginOn, it seems fitting that children constantly swarm over this set of sculptures.  The work features a thirty-foot tower of books capped off with a gold quill pen swirling around in a giant inkwell.  It also includes an abstract version of a manual typewriter with keys that are plenty large enough for children to stand on them, and stand on them they do.  Installed in 2005, this set of sculptures is titled “The Writer’s Desk:  A Tribute to Rolfe Neill.”

The sculptures include many inscribed quotations from columns that he wrote during his years with the paper.  One of these quotations reads, “If reading one good book is fun, reading four must be quadruple the pleasure. Two hard covers and two paperbacks carelessly snuggle about me in the hammock.”

Rolfe Neill has left us, but his campaign to support our public library and promote the reading of books still reverberates throughout our community. I like to think of him somewhere in a celestial Storied Charlotte, resting comfortably in a hammock with four books by his side.

Tags: Rolfe Neill

Dina Schiff Massachi’s New Book about the Characters of Oz

July 17, 2023 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Storied Charlotte

Dina Schiff Massachi’s New Book about the Characters of Oz– A few years ago I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about Dina Schiff Massachi’s participation in the PBS’s documentary titled American Oz: The True Wizard Behind the Curtain, which first aired in April 2021 as part of PBS’s American Experience series. To see this earlier blog post, please click on this link:  Dina Massachi, L. Frank Baum, and The American Experience.

Since then, Dina has continued to teach courses on Oz at UNC Charlotte and work as an Oz scholar.  Her most recent accomplishment in this field of Oz scholarship is the publication of her edited collection titled The Characters of Oz: Essays on Their Adaptation and Transformation, which was just published by McFarland & Company.  Here is the link to the publisher’s listing of the book:  https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-characters-of-oz/

I recently contacted Dina and asked her for more information about how she came to edit The Characters of Oz.  Here is what she sent to me:

For a number of years now, I’ve given talks at the International Wizard of Oz Club’s conventions, theming each talk around a different Oz character, how they’ve adapted, and what their changes say about our American culture. My initial vision for The Characters of Oz was to expand on these talks by inviting members of the Oz Club and other Oz scholars to write essays about Baum’s memorable characters. I wrote up a book proposal and had a contract much faster than I expected—it seemed the powers that be wanted this just as much as I did.

The funny thing about children’s fairylands is everyone thinks the magic is in the fantasy world. While Oz may be spectacular, the real magic in Oz is how the characters all work together to help one another. To quote Jack Zipes, “As an icon of utopian home, Oz reveals how differences might shine and be truly appreciated and how a communal spirit might flourish.” One of the magical things about working with Oz is that same communal spirit prevails— my colleague Mark West contributed an essay, fellow Oz scholars came aboard and referred me to their friends, a former student of the English Department’s M.A program jumped in, Baum descendants contributed, and by the end I had a collection that allowed different voices to shine while collectively telling the tale of how America’s fairy tale has adapted and changed to reflect the changes within America.

I’m a project junkie. The hardest part of completing a project is I need to figure out what comes next. Right around the time Characters was a completed manuscript, I had an idea for my next project—I would continue the collaboration between the Oz Club, the Oz academics, and my other friends in the Oz world and host an Oz festival to make this world come alive for my students and the broader Charlotte community. With thanks to the North Carolina Humanities, and the endless support of my colleagues at UNC Charlotte, that dream is coming true. CharlOz, as we are calling this festival, will take place from September 27-29, 2024, and we are just starting to announce some of our stellar lineup (including Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked). The Charlotte Teacher’s Institute is involved, and we hope to create something magical for everyone—from small children to the young at heart. For more details, please check out: https://charloz.charlotte.edu/

As one of the contributors to Dina’s The Characters of Oz, I am pleased to be included in Dina’s circle of Oz scholars and aficionados.  I am also pleased to be one of her helpers as she plans for the upcoming CharlOz festival. Through her research and publications and her tireless work in organizing CharlOz, Dina is making a real difference not just in the world of Oz scholarship but also in the land of Storied Charlotte. 

Tags: Oz