Storied Charlotte

North Carolina Reads 2025

November 23, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

North Carolina Humanities recently announced their plans for next year’s North Carolina Reads program. This program is a statewide book club that meets virtually on a monthly basis.  I am a big supporter of North Carolina Reads in part because it fosters a sense of community among the participants. After all, discussing shared texts can bring readers together and bridge cultural differences.  Another reason I support this program is that it always showcases books that have deep connections to North Carolina.  The official announcement provides an abundance of information about the program, which I have condensed for the purposes of this week’s blog post:

North Carolina Humanities’ award-winning statewide book club, North Carolina Reads, is returning for its fourth year starting next February 2025. North Carolina Reads annually features five books that explore issues of racial, social, and gender equity and the history and culture of North Carolina.

From February – June 2025, NC Humanities will host free, virtual, monthly book club discussion events where participants will hear from guest speakers, including book authors and topic experts. Libraries, community groups, and individuals across North Carolina are encouraged to read along with NC Humanities, attend North Carolina Reads book club discussion events, and then host their own local book discussions to further conversation, camaraderie, and community.

North Carolina Humanities is pleased to announce the following titles for North Carolina Reads 2025:

February 2025 – The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
Fiction
In 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen. When the honorable Reverend William finally listens to Louella’s pleas and leads the formerly enslaved people out of their plantation, Louella begins to feel hope. Soon, William and Louella become the appointed king and queen of their self-proclaimed Kingdom of the Happy Land. And though they are still surrounded by opposition, they continue to share a message of joy and goodness–and fight for the freedom and dignity of all. Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen is based on actual events that occurred between 1865 – 1889 and shares the unsung history of a Black woman who built a kingdom in Appalachia as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life.

March 2025 – On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice by Ryan Emanuel
Nonfiction
Environmental scientist Ryan E. Emanuel, a member of the Lumbee tribe, shares stories from North Carolina about Indigenous survival and resilience in the face of radical environmental changes. Addressing issues from the loss of wetlands to the arrival of gas pipelines, these stories connect the dots between historic patterns of Indigenous oppression and present-day efforts to promote environmental justice and Indigenous rights on the swamp. Emanuel’s scientific insight and deeply personal connections to his home blend together in a book that is both a heartfelt and an analytical call to acknowledge and protect sacred places.

April 2025 – Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience by Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre
Nonfiction
Depictions of Appalachian food culture and practices often romanticize people in the region as good, simple, and, often, white. These stereotypes are harmful to the actual people they are meant to describe as well as to those they exclude. In Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience, Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre tell a more complicated story. The authors embark on a cultural tour through food and drinking establishments to investigate regional resilience in and through the plurality of traditions and communities that form the foodways of Southern Appalachia.

May 2025 – The Girls We SentAway by Meagan Church
Fiction
It’s the 1960s in North Carolina and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and an idyllic home complete with a white picket fence. Yet every time she looks through her father’s telescope, she dreams of leaving it all behind to go to space. But when this darling girl-next-door gets pregnant, she’s forced to learn firsthand the realities that keep women grounded. To hide their daughter’s secret shame, the Delfords send Lorraine to a maternity home for wayward girls. But this is no safe haven – it’s a house with dark secrets and suffocating rules. And as Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her life, she must decide if she has the power to fight for the future she wants or if she must submit to the rules of a society she once admired.

June 2025 – Doc Watson: A Life in Music by Eddie Huffman
Nonfiction
A musician’s musician, Doc grew up on a subsistence farm in the North Carolina mountains during the Depression, soaking up traditional music and learning to play guitar even though he was blind. Rising to fame in the 1960s as part of the burgeoning folk revival scene, Doc became the face of traditional music for many listeners, racking up multiple Grammys and releasing dozens of albums over the course of his long career. Eddie Huffman tells the story of Doc’s life and legacy, drawing on extensive interviews and hundreds of hours of archival research. Full of fascinating stories—from Doc’s first banjo made from his grandmother’s cat to the founding of MerleFest—this promises to be the definitive biography of the man and how he came to be synonymous with roots music in America and shows how his influence is still felt in music today.

NC Humanities encourages readers to get a head start on their reading by checking with their local library or bookstore to find book copies. North Carolina Readsbook club discussion details and online registration information will be available later this year at nchumanities.org. Please note, you do not have to read the books to participate in North Carolina Reads discussions.

To expand accessibility to books in underserved communities across North Carolina, NC Humanities will once again offer a limited number of North Carolina Reads book boxes to readers. These boxes will include a selection of the five book titles, unique swag, bookmarks, curated program and discussion guides, and more. Discussion guides and program planning guides will also be available for free download in winter 2025 at nchumanities.org. Details on how to request a book box will be released before the end of 2024 at nchumanities.org. If you have questions or concerns about how resource delivery to you or your community may be impacted due to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, please contact us at nch@nchumanities.org. To receive updates about North Carolina Reads, please sign up for our e-newsletter at nchumanities.org.

I thank North Carolina Humanities for organizing this program and for drawing attention to these five noteworthy books.  I am especially pleased that Charlotte authors Meagan Church and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes are included among the authors whose books are being featured.  As I often say, my Storied Charlotte blog is all about celebrating Charlotte’s community of readers and writers, but as North Carolina Reads makes clear, Storied Charlotte is also a key player in the storied state of North Carolina.  

Tags: North Carolina Reads

Words of Encouragement from Tameka Fryer Brown 

November 16, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

I met Charlotte children’s author Tameka Fryer Brown in person about two years ago at an event sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, but I had been following her career as a children’s author since 2020 when I came across her book Brown Baby Lullaby. Originally published in January 2020, Brown Baby Lullaby received rave reviews for being a bedtime story that celebrates Black pride while also communicating parental love and acceptance. 

I am pleased to report that Tameka has a new picture book titled All the Greatness in You that dovetails beautifully with Brown Baby Lullaby.  Farrar, Straus, and Giroux released All the Greatness in You on November 5, 2024, complete with illustrations by Alleanna Harris.  This new book is intended for children between the ages of four and eight, and it features a loving mother and her young son.  The book is brimming with words of encouragement.  

I contacted Tameka and asked her for more information about All the Greatness in You.  Here is what she sent to me:

All the Greatness in You is technically the follow up to Brown Baby Lullaby, a picture book  I published with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in 2020, that is now also available as a board book. Before it had even been released, my editor, Joy Peskin, suggested I write a similar book that older kids could embrace once they had graduated from BBL, that would also be affirming and full of love. I immediately said yes because why wouldn’t I want to write such a book? It took a while, however, for me to figure out what I wanted to say, and how best to say it.

Around this time, my youngest daughter was deeply immersed in the college and scholarship application process. As anyone who has witnessed this up close and personal in recent years can attest, it is an extremely stressful, doubt-inducing time in a young person’s life, even for the young people who seem to have it all together. Maybe especially for them. I made it my business to be whatever my daughter needed to persevere—a confidante, an encourager, a shoulder. I did my best to find impactful words to relay how wonderful, and worthy, and more than enough she was, just as she was. In the midst of all this, it struck me that these were messages to be shared with all kids; those who were growing up, embarking on new experiences, and facing new challenges. You Are: Ode to a Big Kid ultimately became All the Greatness in You. It is described as “a joyful ode to the milestones and special moments in every little one’s life, empowering them with the confidence to try new things, ask questions, make mistakes, and most of all, believe in their own greatness.”

I recently had my launch party for the book at Park Road Books, one of my favorite indie bookstores in the Charlotte area. The consensus was that the words in All the Greatness in You were just as heartening and necessary for the adults in the room as they were for the young people. For a picture book author, I can think of no greater compliment than that. 

I thank Tameka for sharing the backstory behind All the Greatness in You and for providing everyone in Storied Charlotte and beyond with such an affirming story.

Tags: picture bookTameka Fryer Brown

Learning about Appalachian Foodways with Ashli Quesinberry Stokes and Wendy Atkins-Sayre 

November 10, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

My friend and colleague Ashli Quesinberry Stokes is a professor in the Department of Communications Studies at UNC Charlotte. She also served for several years as the Director of UNC Charlotte’s Center for the Study of the New South,  and she is currently serving as the Interim Chair of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies. I always enjoy talking with Ashli about her research in part because her research often involves food.  Ashli sees food, not just as a source of sustenance, but also as sort of communications medium.  Ashli often writes about the cultural significance of Southern foodways, and she shows how we can learn about Southern culture by paying attention to the messages embedded in the food we prepare and consume.  

Ashli and her co-author Wendy Atkins-Sayre first wrote about this topic in their 2016 book titled Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South.  Now they have a second collaborative book in which they take a more focused look at Southern foodways.  Titled Hungry Roots:  How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Resilience, this book focuses on the foodways in the mountains of western North Carolina as well as the mountain areas in the neighboring states.  Curious to know more about their new book, I contacted Ashli and asked her for some background information about Hungry Roots.  Here is what she sent to me:

Years ago, the popular television show Justified premiered, called a “backwoods procedural” by the media, and featuring the hillbillies, “rednecks,” and drug abusers caught up in crime, deep in the hollers of Kentucky. The show was set in Ashli’s UNCC colleague and Department Chair at the time, Dr. Shawn D. Long’s, hometown. Shawn, one of most joyful, creative, and innovative leaders at Charlotte sighed, complaining to Ashli: “Ash, don’t you which there more stories about Appalachia that showed more than our poverty, racism, and substance abuse?” Over the years, they kept talking about how the region was frequently portrayed, and when Shawn passed away from an aggressive form of lung cancer in 2021, our work on what would become Hungry Roots was two years in, with us dedicating the book to Shawn upon publication. Like Shawn, Ashli had grown up in a different corner of the Mountains (Southwest Virginia) and was interested in adding nuance to the stereotypes circulating about Appalachia. Building upon two previous book projects about the South and rural America, with frequent co-author Dr. Wendy Atkins-Sayre, we decided to think about how food had the possibility of adding new stories and perspectives to the ones more commonly shared about Appalachia.

Along the way, other Charlotte area connections helped to flesh out a broader Appalachian food story. I talked with Haymaker Chef William Dissen, had a fantastic Appalachia farm dinner at Shelby’s Old North Farm, interviewed one of its proprietors and star-baker/author Keia Mastrianni, and looked for Appalachian “leather britches” beans and the stunning variety of NC Mountain apples at the Yorkmont Farmers Market. Since we eventually settled on focusing on Southern Central Appalachia, an area roughly 100 square miles-ish surrounding Asheville, NC, Charlotte provided an easy base for going on fieldwork expeditions, where we visited and interviewed hundreds of area farmers, bakers, cooks, gas-station food market chefs, activists, distillers, and brewers. 

Everyone encounters assumptions people make about their regions and places they live. Unfortunately, if the South is America’s Other, Appalachia is the South’s Other, so its people live with these often incorrect assumptions that affect their identities as well as regional and national policy and decision-making. By studying its food and food traditions, our book tries to uncover some of the resilience topoi that Appalachia has faced and continues to face, offering suggestions about how those conversation themes offer potential in taking discussions in different directions or keeping them same, reinforcing stereotypes. 

These resilience topoi emerged as we were working on the book in the middle of the pandemic—actually trying to do fieldwork during this time—and continually reading about “resilience” in the news when discussing the pandemic. We started to see the parallels with food in Appalachia. We look at how resilience messages are communicated through Southern Appalachia’s food and drink messages through three common topoi: messages about preserving cultures through food traditions, messages about how food and food tourism can fortify Appalachian communities, and messages about how Appalachian food and drink also melds communities and traditions together, creating new stories about the communities. 

In the end, we hope the book helps academic and non-academic audiences learn about how resilience rhetoric operates, how it encourages and limits communities and solutions, and sometimes at the same time. We write about how resilience rhetorics are contradictory  – they emphasize how people find innovation and creativity to help solve regional problems but they also convey senses of stasis and acceptance of “that’s just how it’s going to be here.” Resilience was the dominant food and drink message we saw communicated in the Southern Appalachia region and we encourage those from other places to explore the ones that share messages about their own communities and people.

My thanks go to Ashli for providing such a tantalizing appetizer to Hungry Roots.  To further whet your appetite, I am pleased to announce that NC Humanities has selected Hungry Roots as one of the five featured books in their 2025 North Carolina Reads statewide book club program.  I congratulate Ashli and Wendy on having their book selected for this prestigious program.  You make Storied Charlotte proud.  

Tags: foodways

Heather Perry’s Veterans Day Talk about World War One 

November 03, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

There is a reason Veterans Day is always observed on the eleventh day of November. Originally known as Armistice Day, this holiday started as a day to commemorate the end of World War One.  On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, all of the countries involved in World War One agreed to an armistice, resulting in the cessation of military operations.  The next year saw the observance of the first Armistice Day, which took place on November 11, 1919.  In 1954, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day, but it is still observed on the eleventh day of November. 

Displaying

This Veterans Day, historian Heather Perry will give a public presentation titled “World War One and Its Impact in North Carolina.” Dr. Perry is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and she focuses much of her research on the history of World War One.  In her first book, Recycling the Disabled: Army, Medicine, and Modernity in WWI Germany, she examined the impact of World War One in Germany.  In her more recent research, however, she has been examining the impact of the war here in North Carolina.  Her upcoming presentation is based on this recent research.  Here is the official description of her presentation:

In 1917, when the United States intervened in the Great War, North Carolinians across the Tarheel State rushed to contribute “their bit” to America’s domestic mobilization. Heather Perry, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of History, will explore that home-front mobilization, and the rippling impacts it left behind in the next Ginkgo Residential lecture series, presented by the Capitalism Studies Program. From military training and school gardens to the nation’s only internment station for German “enemy aliens,” this talk examines how the First World War helped transition North Carolina from the “Old North State” into the “New South.”

The presentation will take place on Monday, November 11, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at the Independent Picture House (4237 Raleigh Street).  This presentation is open to the public at no charge, but registration is required:  Register; Learn More about the Series

During her upcoming presentation, Dr. Perry will discuss the central role that Charlotte played in North Carolina’s involvement in World War One.  Our city was much smaller in those days, but even then Storied Charlotte was on its way to becoming a city that played on a national stage.  

Tags: World War One

Theatre Charlotte’s Timely Production of 1984

October 26, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

I first read George Orwell’s 1984 in 1970 at the recommendation of my high school English teacher. At the time, the year 1984 seemed far off in the future to me.  After all, fourteen years seems like a long time to a teenager.  However, I remember worrying if Orwell’s dystopian vision of the future would actually come to pass.   Now the year 1984 seems like a long time ago to me, but I’m still worried about Orwell’s dystopian vision.  

So much of what Orwell incorporated in his novel is now part of our day-to-day lives.   The mass surveillance that we associate with Orwell’s phrase “Big Brother is watching you” is a real concern in contemporary America.  Like the two-way televisions in 1984, our cell phones and digital home assistants have the ability to monitor our whereabouts and, to some extent, our activities.  Like the double-speaking propagandists who run the “Ministry of Truth” in 1984, many of today’s politicians twist the meanings of words to such an extent that a word like “truth” is used when telling a lie.  It’s against this backdrop that Theatre Charlotte is currently bringing a theatrical production of 1984 to Charlotte.

Theatre Charlotte’s production of 1984 runs from now to November 10 at Theatre Charlotte’s space at 501 Queens Road.  The play is based on an adaption of Orwell’s novel by Robert Owen, Wilton E. Hall, Jr., and Williams A. Miles, Jr.  It is directed by Chris Timmons, the Artistic Director of Theatre Charlotte.  The cast includes Chris Patton as Winston, Dionte Darko as O’Brien, and Isabella Frommelt as Julia. A post-show discussion will take place after the performance on November 1. More information and tickets are available here.

I congratulate Theatre Charlotte on bringing this timely production of1984 to the stage.  One of the reasons Theatre Charlotte is such a legendary Storied Charlotte institution is that it regularly produces plays that speak to our time and our community, and its production of 1984 is a prime example of this worthy tradition.  

Tags: George Orwell

It’s Nearly Time for EpicFest 

October 20, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

For those of us who live in the Charlotte area, Thanksgiving isn’t the only occasion in November when families gather, share stories, and make memories.  EpicFest, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation’s free literary festival for children, teens, and their families, also takes place in November.  I contacted Emily Nanney, one of the organizers of the event, and asked her about the plans for this year’s EpicFest.  Here is what she sent to me:

EpicFest is an extraordinary, free literary festival that joyfully connects children, teens and families with books and the people who write them through activities that encourage a love of reading and learning. In its seventh year, EpicFest has become a wonderful family tradition. Nationally recognized children’s and young adult authors and illustrators will share their latest books, experiences and passion for libraries with kids of all ages.

This year’s EpicFest features ten incredible authors who will be visiting Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools on Friday, November 8, 2024 and then promoting their newest books on Saturday, November 9, 2024. Eight children’s authors, including Grey Foley, Tracey West, JaNay Brown-Wood, Meera Sriram, Peter Raymundo, John Patrick Green, Kelly Starling Lyons, and Niña Mata will be at ImaginOn speaking about their experience as writers and signing books. 

The EpicFest Family Festival will take place on Saturday, November 9, 2024, at ImaginOn (300 E. Seventh Street).  The event will start at 10:00 a.m. and conclude at 3:00 p.m. It’s is a great time for young readers to engage with some of their favorite authors and hear about their writing inspiration, and for aspiring young writers to ask them questions about their writing process. Supplementary to a stellar author lineup on Saturday, there will be an abundance of hands-on activities for children of all ages. In addition to creative learning tables, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte will offer a special free performance of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs at noon. Other festive touches throughout the day include African Drum Circles presented by Drums4Life, book giveaways, roving costumed book characters, face painting and balloon twisting, and a visit from GameTruck Charlotte. 

On Saturday, November 9, 2024,our EpicFest program just for teens will be at North County Regional Library from 12-2pm! Teens will have the opportunity to meet two award-winning YA authors, Jonny Garza Villa and Kim Johnson. Festivities include maker activities focused on book cover design and bookmark creation, along with writing stations! There will be a chance to contribute to an online publication as part of our Epic Teen Writing Showcase. Teens will have a truly epic experience through activities and giveaways! 

For more information about this year’s featured guests, please click on the following link:  https://www.cmlibrary.org/epicfest

As usual, I will be volunteering all day at EpicFest.  I have my own traditions associated with the day. On Saturday morning, I will put on my book tie, which my wife bought for me at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.  I will then take the light rail to the Seventh Street Station.  After exiting the train, I will take the short walk to ImaginOn where I will spend the day helping the authors set up for their presentations and book signings. I hope to see you there. I would not miss EpicFest for anything.  After all, EpicFest is a Storied Charlotte tradition. 

Tags: EpicFest

Honoring the Legacy of Dannye Romine Powell 

October 13, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Charlotte’s community of readers and writers lost one of its mainstays on October 10, 2024, with the passing of Dannye Romine Powell.   For half a century, Dannye contributed to Charlotte’s literary scene as a journalist, editor, poet, and teacher.  

Dannye made her debut on the Charlotte literary scene in 1975 when she became the book editor for The Charlotte Observer.  She remained the paper’s book editor until 1992.  Back in those days, the paper published a two-page book section every Sunday.  It included original book reviews, interviews with authors, and news about local literary events. In her role as book editor, she often interviewed authors.  Even after she stepped away from her position as the paper’s book editor, she occasionally published interviews with authors in The Charlotte Observer.  In April 2022, for example, the paper ran an interview that she conducted with Charlotte writer Judy Goldman about Judy’s memoir Child. 

In 1994, Dannye collected twenty-three of her author interviews in a book titled Parting the Curtains:  Interviews with Southern Writers. The North Carolina publisher John F. Blair brought out the book in 1994.  The authors featured in the book include Maya Angelou, Pat Conroy, Shelby Foote, Alex Haley, Reynold Price, William Styron, and Eudora Welty.  The book received excellent reviews.  Publishers Weekly praised Dannye for bringing together “these diverse, engaging interviews” and for providing “gracefully written” introductions for each interview. 

In addition to her interview book, Dannye published five poetry collections.  The first of these was At Every Wedding Someone Stays Home (1994), followed by The Ecstasy of Regret (2003), A Necklace of Bees (2008), Nobody Calls Me Darling Anymore (2015), and In the Sunroom with Raymond Carver (2020).  Two of her poetry collections won the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Brockman-Campbell Award for best book by a North Carolina poet.  

Dannye often shared her interest in writing poetry with aspiring poets.  She organized a weekly poetry critique group in her Dilworth home, and she frequently taught classes and lead poetry workshops for the Charlotte Center for Literary Arts (Charlotte Lit).  In 2021, she coordinated Charlotte Lit’s yearlong “Poetry Chapbook Lab,” in which she guided participants through the process of writing and publishing their own poetry chapbooks.  

On a personal note, I am grateful to Dannye for taking an active interest in my Storied Charlotte blog.  She often emailed me about various blog posts, and she occasionally suggested authors or books that she thought I might be interested in featuring. In my opinion, when a legend offers you advice, you should take it.  I always did. 

Dannye Romine Powell was a Storied Charlotte legend, and her legacy will live on for years to come. 

Tags: Dannye Romine Powell

New Picture Books by Charlotte Writers/Illustrators

October 08, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Before I became an English professor, I taught young children for several years.  Back then I often incorporated picture books in my lesson plans and not just when I was covering language arts topics.  When I taught children about science, for example, I found that many of the kids in my classes gained a better understanding of the scientific concepts that I was covering when I included science-related picture books. Even though I had not yet come across the phrase “visual learners,” I came to realize that many of the kids in my classes learned best when I shared with them visually engaging presentations of information in the form of picture books. I am pleased to report four such picture books have recently come out by Charlotte picture books authors/illustrators.   

I Fuel by Charlotte author Kelly Rice Schmitt and illustrated by Jam Dong traces the story of petroleum from the days of the dinosaurs to the present.  Schmitt focuses on fossil fuels, but she also covers alternative energy sources, such a solar and wind power. She provides children with straight-forward information about how ancient life forms become oil and then how oil is refined into fuels.  She does not shy away from the problems associated with the use of fossil fuels, such a global warming. 

A Credit Card Takes Charge by Charlotte author Kimberly Wilson and illustrated by Mark Hoffman introduces children to the uses and misuses of credit cards through telling the story of an anthropomorphic credit card.  The story is amusing, but the book contributes to children’s understanding of financial literacy.  This book relates to Wilson’s two previous picture books about currency—A Penny’s Worth and A Dollar’s Grand Dream.

I Dream for You is written and illustrated by the Charlotte husband and wife team of David Wax and Brett Blumenthal.  Wax provides the text, and Blumenthal provides the pictures.  Intended for young children, this book conveys to children the dreams that their parents have for them as they grow up.  In the process, however, this book provides information about a wide variety of animals, including mountain gorillas, big horn sheep, and bald eagles.  Blumenthal’s illustrations of these animals are strikingly beautiful.

Disgusting Dinner by Charlotte author Roxanne Falls and illustrated by JP Roberts is a humorous story about a monstrous dinner party featuring all sorts of “gross” foods, but it is also a story about the value of being open to trying different types of food.  It’s a funny book, but it subtly encourages children to be respectful of diverse culinary traditions. 

These four pictures books are very different from each other, but they all lend themselves to introducing children to information and concepts.  They all also contribute to Storied Charlotte’s reputation as a hub of talented writers and illustrators of children’s books.

Tags: picture books

Issue Four of Litmosphere 

September 29, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

When I saw the news about the publication of Charlotte Lit’s latest issue of Litmosphere, I remembered hearing that Charlotte Lit was planning to make some changes to their literary journal beginning with this issue.  Curious about these changes, I contacted Kathie Collins, the Editor-in-Chief of Litmosphere, and asked her for more information about the latest issue.  Here is what she sent to me:

Hi, Mark. The Fall 2024 issue of Litmosphere is live online, and we couldn’t be more pleased to share with readers these outstanding stories and poems by thirty writers from Charlotte and around the world. The issue also features beautifully evocative hand-cut collages by artist Wendy Balconi. We hope readers will agree that by combining fantastic writing with thought-provoking visual imagery the new Litmosphere is something the entire Charlotte Lit community can be proud of!

North Carolina is well-represented in the issue. We’re pleased to publish works by Sarah Archer, Joseph Bathanti, Steve Cushman, Christopher Davis, Michael Dechane, Mary Alice Dixon, Paul Jones, Eric Nelson, David Radavich, Lucinda Trew, and George T. Wilkerson.

This is the fourth issue of Litmosphere and the first since revisioning our journal last spring. As you’ve written about, Mark, for three years Litmosphere was home for Charlotte Lit’s Lit/South Awards winners and finalists. We gained essential experience running a contest-based journal and we leave Lit/South behind with mixed feelings. We were able to engage writers with huge national prominence as contest judges, and we had the good fortune to select winners and finalists among some excellent stories and poems that came in from throughout our region. But we started to question the contest model and the less-than-friendly landscape for writers seeking to find homes for their work. We’ve re-envisioned Litmosphere as an oasis in the desert of long response times and impersonal rejection notes. As writers ourselves, we know submitters are putting real skin (thick or thin) into the game and deserve our full attention and respect. 

Here’s some essential info for anyone interested in reading Litmosphere and submitting their work.

You can read Litmosphere online at https://litmosphere.charlottelit.org. We now publish two issues per year, in March and September, with submissions accepted in the first weeks of January and July. We pledge to respond quickly—no more than four weeks—and most often with a personal note. We curate writing selections with thematic resonances, pay every contributor a meaningful honorarium, and elevate the reading experience with visual art and a user-friendly web platform. 

We’d love to hear what people think of our re-visioned journal—what’s working and what tweaks might take our journal even higher into the Litmosphere!

I congratulate Kathie and all of the good folks at Charlotte Lit on the publication of the fourth issue of Litmosphere. I also congratulate them on their willingness to embrace change.  One of the reasons Charlotte Lit is such a vital part of Storied Charlotte is that is never rests on its laurels.   

Tags: Charlotte Lit

The 11th Annual Celebration of Verse & Vino

September 15, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

The eleventh annual celebration of Verse & Vino, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation’s grand literary gala and fundraiser, will take place in the Charlotte Convention Center on November 7, 2024.  This event will feature New York Times best-selling authors, wine, and food.  I contacted Maggie Bean, the Director of Communications for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, and asked her for more information about this year’s Verse & Vino event.  Here is what she sent to me:

On Nov. 7, 2024, guests will have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to hear from New York Times bestselling authors Emiko Jean, Edward Lee and Jessica Shattuck, as well as Oscar-shortlisted producer and debut author Essie Chambers.

Presented by PNC Bank and emceed by radio legend Sheri Lynch, the signature evening program will showcase the shared joy that stems from reading and writing – and the importance of libraries and literacy in our community.  The more than 1,300 expected attendees will experience a true sense of fellowship and spirit during the celebratory fundraising event at the Charlotte Convention Center.

This year’s Verse & Vino welcomes the following authors and their latest books, including: 

  • Emiko Jean with The Return of Ellie Black: A suspenseful page-turner that made horror legend Stephen King call it “a page-turning suspense novel, a shrewd character study, and a captivating mystery, all at the same time. The last fifty pages are magnetic. I couldn’t put it down until I’d experienced every last twist and turn.”
  • Edward Lee with Bourbon Land: An ode to his old Kentucky whiskey; celebrated chef  and PBS personality Vivian Howard said “If you think Kentucky whiskey only makes sense in a glass, let Chef Edward Lee’s unmatched prose show you how bourbon eats as good as it drinks.”
  • Essie Chambers with Swift River: The debut novel is a Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club pick and was recently longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize.
  • Jessica Shattuck with Last House: New York Times called it “a richly detailed, slow-burning family saga distinguished by incisive psychological insight and masterful research.”

New this year, guests will have access to more than authors (Verse) and wine (Vino). Kentucky distillery Heaven Hill has graciously offered to sponsor a limited-edition bourbon cocktail, which will be showcased in Edward Lee’s author vignette and served at his book-signing table.

Verse & Vino is an annual fundraiser for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, which supports the CommonSpark campaign, including building a new Main Library; programs, services, digital and print collections; and a growing endowment for the future needs of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. 

This year, the Library Foundation hopes to raise $600,000 to support the Library’s mission to create a community of readers and empower individuals with free access to information and the universe of ideas.

More information about Verse & Vino and this year’s featured authors is available at foundation.cmlibrary.org/events/verse-vino, and tickets can be purchased online or by calling Teleia White (704) 416-0803.

I attended the very first Verse & Vino event in 2013, and I remember how much I enjoyed the evening.  Since then, I have been impressed with how Verse & Vino has established itself over the past eleven years as one of our community’s premier cultural events.  While Verse & Vino is an important fundraiser for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, it is also a celebration of libraries, literacy, and books.  As a long-time supporter of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, I believe that participating in Verse & Vino is wonderful way to engage in our Storied Charlotte community and support our storied public library.