Something New Out of Charlotte Lit – The Roman writer and naturalist Pliny the Elder once wrote, “There is always something new out of Africa.” Well, he actually wrote this sentence in Latin, but I have taken a liking to the English translation of it.  I know that I am taking liberties with Pliny’s famous proclamation, but it seems to me that there is always something new coming out of Charlotte Lit, too.  I just learned that Charlotte Lit recently published three poetry chapbooks. I contacted Paul Reali and Kathie Collins, the co-founders of Charlotte Lit, and asked them for more information about these poetry chapbooks. Here is what they sent to me:

Mark, thanks for asking us about the three new poetry chapbooks released by Charlotte Lit Press. This is a good example of how different Charlotte Lit programs come together to make something new.

We launched the imprint Charlotte Lit Press last year when we began publishing our literary journal, Litmosphere, knowing there would be more we’d want to publish in the future. After releasing our second issue in May, we were ready to entertain some new publications.

Meanwhile, we had eleven writers in our inaugural Poetry Chapbook Lab. It’s a year-long immersion for poets to take classes and work on their poems with two coaches and with each other. (The second cohort is forming now, in fact

http://www.charlottelit.org/chapbooklab/) The result is a publication-ready poetry chapbook, ready to be submitted to contests and presses.

Putting these two Lit programs together, we decided to expand Charlotte Lit Press into poetry chapbooks, beginning by opening to submissions from Chapbook Lab writers. We’re happy to say we’ve accepted five manuscripts so far, with the first three just released.

Into the Swirl is the debut collection from John Clark, a North Carolina native and former WDAV general manager. John says he “writes poems and composes music as a way to play,” and this collection demonstrates both musicality and playfulness.

I’ll Buy Flowers Again Tomorrow is Patricia Ann Joslin’s debut collection. Published on the five-year anniversary of her husband Roy’s death from pancreatic cancer, this deeply-felt chapbook pays homage to him while exploring grief, hope and healing.

Subjects Suitable for Poetry is the second collection from former Carrboro poet laureate Gary Phillips. He explores family, nature, and his rural upbringing, which prove to be interwoven and inseparable.

These three writers, and others whose books are in our pipeline, will read at Charlotte Lit on September 8 (details available in upcoming Charlotte Lit newsletters). To support the work of John, Patricia, Gary, and future Charlotte Lit Press writers, our books can be ordered from one’s favorite bookstore, any online retailer, or directly from us at https://www.charlottelit.org/press/

We’ll have more publications in the near future, both chapbooks and full collections—including the latest from renowned poet Lola Haskins. We’re not yet open to general submissions, but that will happen within the next year.

I thank Paul and Kathie for sharing this information about these poetry chapbooks and their plans for Charlotte Lit Press.  All of us in Storied Charlotte are indebted to Charlotte Lit for always providing us with something new.

Jenny Han, the Korean American author of The Summer I Turned Pretty and many other popular novels, once wrote, “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.”  For me, part of the magic of summer involves the act of writing.  Since I don’t usually teach during the summer, I spend the summer months in my quirky office working on a book or an article, all the while endlessly sipping coffee from my Wind in the Willows mug.  I cannot seem to write without drinking coffee at the same time.  My goal every summer is to finish the initial draft of whatever writing project I am working on at the time, and then I do my revisions during the school year.  This approach has worked for me for many, many years.  I attribute whatever success I have had as a writer to the magic of summer (with a little boost from the coffee).

Paul Reali and Kathie Collins, the co-founders of Charlotte Lit, know all about the magical relationship between the months of summer and the act of writing.  Paul, Kathie and the other people involved with the running of Charlotte Lit have scheduled a wide range of summer programming for all kinds of writers.  I contacted Paul and Kathie and asked them for more information about Charlotte Lit’s summer programs.  Here is what they sent to me:

Mark, we’re excited to tell you about Charlotte Lit’s summer offerings!

Our community has been asking, so for the first time in our seven years we’ve decided to add a big selection of summer programming. At the risk of saying we have something for everyone, we do have a really good mix of topics and formats from which to choose.

“Everything, Really Everything…” is our newest concept. On three Wednesday nights, we’ll host a writer who will tell the audience everything they know about a certain topic. The evening starts at 5:30 and also includes social time and adult beverages. Here’s that list:

June 14: Everything, Really Everything, Kim Wright Knows and Writing Beach Reads

July 19: Everything, Really Everything, Dustin M. Hoffman Knows About Writing Short Stories

August 16: Everything, Really Everything, Emily Sage Knows About Songwriting

We’ll host two other writers for special events. Poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi joins us for the next Poetry Nightclub, June 22 at Starlight on 22nd. These are fun nights in a very cool atmosphere. Later in the summer, on August 11, novelist Abigail DeWitt will be at Charlotte Lit to read from and discuss her work.

Of course, Charlotte Lit will offer some writing classes, too—by Zoom to make it easy for anyone to attend from anywhere. Journalist and essayist Amy Paturel will join us from Los Angeles for Writing and Pitching the Reported Essay, two Sunday afternoons, July 30 and August 6. Writer Elizabeth Hanly comes to us from Mexico for four sessions beginning July 18, for what we think will be one of our most important offerings ever: Togetherness: Writing for Those Touched by Cancer and Other Serious Illness.

Every Tuesday morning at 9:30, a dozen or more writers gather on Zoom for our prompt-based writing hour, Pen to Paper. This continues all summer and is a great way to spark new ideas.

We’ll end the summer and kick off our full programming year at Rosie’s Wine Garden for our second annual Open Mic, with our friends at the North Carolina Writers’ Network, August 25.

Finally, there’s one more item of interest for poets: we’ll start taking applications for our Poetry Chapbook Lab on June 15. This is a year-long intensive with coaching and master classes that results in a publication-ready chapbook.

It’s a whole lot of things, so we’ve made a special web page with all this info and registration links, here: https://www.charlottelit.org/summer2023/

We hope to see many of your readers this summer!

I thank Paul and Kathie for sharing this information about Charlotte Lit’s summer offerings.  I also thank Charlotte Lit for providing area writers with a spoonful of inspiration so that they, too, can have their own magical summer in the city of Storied Charlotte.