I recently received an email message from a former student who used to live in Charlotte but has since moved to a mid-sized, midwestern city. In her email, she commented on how much she missed Charlotte’s literary community. She said that she missed her old writing group from Charlotte, and she mentioned how hard it has been for her to find a comparable writing group that she could join since she made her move. She said she missed going to the book signings at Park Road Books and taking her kids to the EpicFest literary festival at ImaginOn. After reading her email message, I realized how fortunate I am to live in Charlotte. Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I decided to list ten reasons why I feel thankful that I am a member of Charlotte’s community of readers and writers.
I am thankful for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Our public library is one of the best in the country. It provides books and other resources to the residents of every neighborhood in our city, and its free public programming enriches the lives of thousands of people in our community. It is also a steadfast defender of the freedom to read.
I am thankful for Charlotte’s excellent writing groups and organizations, such as Charlotte Lit and the Charlotte Writers Club. These groups provide area writers with guidance, support, and a sense of belonging to a community writers.
I am thankful for Charlotte’s independent bookstores. The bookstore I visit most often is Park Road Books, but there are more than a dozen independent bookstores in the Charlotte area. Every April these businesses work together to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day and collaborate on the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl.
I am thankful for Charlotte’s literacy groups, such as Promising Pages, Read Charlotte, and Smart Start of Mecklenburg County. These groups work hard to improve children’s literacy skills. In the process, they help instill in children a love of reading.
I am thankful for the Charlotte-area book publishers, such as Falstaff Books, Main Street Rag Publishing Company, and Warren Publishing. Although these publishers work with writers from around the country, they have an impressive record of publishing books by Charlotte-area authors.
I am thankful for the Charlotte Readers Podcast. Founded by Landis Wade in 2018, the Charlotte Readers Podcast is now co-hosted by Landis, Sarah Archer, and Hannah Larrew. Over the years, many Charlotte-area authors have been featured on this entertaining and informative podcast.
I am thankful for the Arts & Science Council for providing area writers with grants to support their creative work and for their support of cultural programs in the Charlotte area.
I am thankful for North Carolina Humanities and their NC Center for the Book. Although North Carolina Humanities is a state-wide organization, it is headquartered in Charlotte. Through their award-winning North Carolina Reads program and their other projects, North Carolina Humanities makes many contributions to Charlotte’s literary community.
I am thankful for Charlotte’s literary journals, including Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit, The Main Street Rag, Nova Literary-Arts Magazine, and Qu: A Contemporary Literary Magazine from Queens University. These journals often publish stories and poems by Charlotte writers.
Finally, I am thankful for all of the wonderful literary works created by Charlotte’s many writers. Without their contributions to Charlotte’s literary scene, there would be no Storied Charlotte blog.