Storied Charlotte

Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls: A Historical Novel Set in Charlotte During WWII

December 20, 2021 by Mark West

During World War II, the name Rosie the Riveter was often used when referring to the women who played such a crucial role in the production of war-related materials. Norman Rockwell created an iconic image of Rosie the Riveter that ran on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1943 and then was reproduced as a popular poster. This image of Rosie the Riveter serves as a touchstone for Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls, a historical novel that deals with the women who worked at Charlotte’s Shell Plant where they manufactured ammunition for the war effort. Meredith tells the story from the perspectives of two military wives—one black and the other white—who both find employment at the Shell Plant. The novel delves into the nature of life on the home front, but it is also a story about an unlikely friendship.

A native of Charlotte, Meredith has many years of experience in the area of business communications. She has worked for some of Charlotte’s leading financial institutions, but there is a big difference between business writing and writing a work of historical fiction. For Meredith, the decision to try her hand at writing a historical novel was tied to her experience as a mother of triplets. When her three kids headed all off to college, she decided that the time had come for her to pursue her dream of writing fiction. I recently contacted Meredith and asked her for more information about this decision. Here is what she sent to me:

Going from zero to three kids overnight in 2000 was scary, but not as scary as going from three to zero in 2018. I still had my career, but in anticipation of this dramatic cessation of “noise” in my house, I did some self-reflection to figure out what I wanted to do next (rather than “helicopter parent” my kids on three separate campuses). In those busy years, whenever I could grab a few moments, I loved to read historical fiction and a good HF book would often make me want to research more about that time and place. I have always been a good business writer, thanks to my jobs in banking. Creative writing offered the steep learning curve I was looking for to occupy my time after my kids graduated.

My story idea of a women’s empowerment book and the forgotten Shell Plant as its setting came to me at the dawn of the #metoo movement. Then I wrote the story through the Black Lives Matter movement. Every time I Googled something out of curiosity, another piece of the puzzle fell into place. It is a story about my character’s awakening that mirrored my own. To borrow a quote from the amazing Toni Morrison, I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it. I had the story idea and the drive, I just needed to hone my skills to get it done. So I started reaching out to local authors like Sarah Creech and Kathy Izard. They were gracious enough to meet with me and share their journeys. They told me about Author’s Lab and I was accepted into the 2019 class. I have always loved a school setting, and I like to think I got my “MFA” from A-Lab. For twelve months, we met all day on Saturday once a month. Paula Martinac was my A-Lab writing coach and she guided me through the completion of my first draft by April of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic lockdown. By completing my manuscript, I learned I was part of only 3% of all people who try to write a book. I also learned that the hardest part was yet to come. The revision process and the submission process were grueling, but by that time I was determined to honor my story and my characters and see this thing through. My kids were watching me too. Would mom quit or finish what she started?

I have always loved puzzles of any kind. The editing and revision process is a lot like a 100,000-word puzzle that I was determined to solve. I used many local editor resources like Kim Wright and Betsy Thorpe and Warren Publishing to mold the story into its current form.

I’m not the kind of writer who journals every day or has to write every thought and feeling down in order to process it. There’s just not enough time in the day, as I am still employed full time by one of the major banks in town. Before I began this journey, I admired writers and learned something from every book I read. So my goal in writing was always this: I wanted to offer my story to the reader with the high minded pursuit of letting them see themselves, so they don’t feel as alone. This is especially important for women, including women of color, to see stories where they are empowered to make positive change through their own unique style.

This is what I’ve tried to do. It’s not perfect. It’s my first novel, but I learned so much about Charlotte and about myself from writing it. I can only hope the characters might teach others as well. I’m already starting to craft my second novel, also a women’s empowerment story told through historical fiction, and based on my husband’s family living in Tombstone, Arizona.

For readers who want to know more about Meredith and Poster Girls, please click on the following link: https://www.meredithritchie.com/

Charlotte’s gleaming skyscrapers and countless new condominium projects reflect Charlotte’s status as a quintessential New South city. Charlotte might give the appearance of being brand new, but the city actually has a long and rich history. One chapter in that history relates Charlotte’s role as a center for the production of naval ammunition shells during World Warr II. Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls does an excellent job of showing how the Shell Plant shaped life in Storied Charlotte in the early 1940s.

Tags: fiction historical novel Shell Plant

Derick Wilder’s Poignant Picture Book about a Dog and His Child Friend

December 13, 2021 by Mark West

I grew up on the side of a mountain where I had something of a feral childhood. I spent much of my early childhood wandering around the mountain, but I was usually not alone. We had an old collie named Gypsy, and she almost always stayed at my side or rested nearby, always keeping an eye on me. My parents used to say that they had me but Gypsy raised me. I thought about Gypsy as I read Derick Wilder’s touching debut picture book titled The Longest Letsgoboy. Gypsy is long gone, but I have a feeling that she would identify with the dog in this book.

Published in October by Chronicle Books, The Longest Letsgoboy tells the story of an old dog and a young girl going for one last walk in the woods together. Narrated in the voice of the dog, the story beautifully captures the special relationship between a dog and a child. The dog has a unique way of talking. He has his own words for the things that are important to him. He calls trees tallsticks, refers to squirrels as branchjumpers, and uses the name Little when talking about his girl. The dog’s love of Little shines through on every page. He cares deeply about Little, and he wants to make sure that she is going to be okay. Cátia Chien’s mixed-media illustrations are in perfect synch with the strong emotions that the story evokes.

With the publication of The Longest Letsgoboy, Derick now joins the ranks of picture book authors and illustrators who call the Charlotte area home. However, Derick took a long and winding road on his journey to becoming a published picture book author. I asked him about how he came to write this book, and here is what he sent to me:

I’ve been writing since I was a kid—journaling vacations, penning poetic birthday cards, and scribbling silly stories. And after one career in technology and another working with children, I’ve sort of come full circle, initially falling in love with picture books after spending endless hours sitting on the floor of our library and local bookstores with my little girl. Once hooked, I began scribbling silly stories again, this time for an audience of one.

Fast forward almost a decade and that little girl has magically become a teen. Meanwhile, one of those silly stories turned into an actual book, as The Longest Letsgoboy, illustrated by Cátia Chien, was released in October. It’s a circle-of-life tale told through the eyes of an aging dog, and sprinkled with his own dog-speak, taking a final walk with his best friend, a little girl.

This book was actually inspired by a real-life event. I write on the back patio quite a bit, and my huskies at the time, Lakota and Kaya, would often sit by my feet. One morning, Lakota, then an elderly boy, got up and slowly strolled around our yard. I followed him, and it felt like he was saying farewell to the surrounding flora and fauna. So I substituted my daughter and imagined them walking through the woods, with the dog knowing it would be his last day on Earth. I wrote a (very bad) first draft that morning, then spent time in the forests of our local greenway, trying to figure out how a dog might refer to the natural elements. I’d watch squirrels, lie under trees and stare at their canopies, speak to flowers, and listen to streams. Next, I started trying combinations of small words to create dog-speak that made sense and, just as importantly, could be easily pronounced when read aloud. Finally, after about 50 revisions and multiple rejections, Jenna Pocius, my agent, found the perfect home for the story at Chronicle Books.

My next picture book, illustrated by K-Fai Steele and also published by Chronicle, is slated for May. This one will be very different, as it’s titled Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt? and is written in rhyme. But one common thread is that it was also inspired by a real-life event—my young daughter was in the back seat as we stopped behind a school bus and blurted out, “Look Daddy, the school bus has a butt!” It was a brilliant, childlike perspective that I would never have thought of… she wants royalties.

For readers who want to know more about Derick, please click on the following link: https://www.derickwilder.com/

The Charlotte area is home to a number of remarkable picture book authors and illustrators, including Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Gail Haley, Brandon Reese, and Alicia D. Williams. I am pleased to add Derick Wilder’s name to my list of Storied Charlotte picture book authors.

Tags: dog picture book

Experiencing New York’s 19th-Century Theater Scene with Paula Martinac

December 05, 2021 by Mark West

Novelist Paula Martinac has established herself as one of Charlotte’s leading lesbian writers, but she is also known for her well-researched historical fiction. Over the course of her career, she has written several novels set during the middle decades of the 20^th century, such as Testimony, a novel about a professor who teaches at a private college for women in rural Virginia in the early 1960s. However, Paula’s most recent novel, Dear Miss Cushman (Bywater Books), is her first work of historical fiction that is set during the 19^th century.

Dear Miss Cushman takes place in New York City during the 1850s. It is told from the point of view of Georgiana “Georgie” Cartwright, a young woman who aspires to be a professional actress. Georgie’s role model is Charlotte Cushman, who was a real 19^th-century American actress. In Paula’s novel, Georgie initiates correspondence with Charlotte Cushman, which explains the title of the novel. In many ways, this novel is a coming-of-age story in which a young woman forges an identity that transcends the confines of traditional, 19^th-century gender roles. It is also, however, an immersion into the colorful theater scene as it existed in antebellum America.

For more information about this novel, please click on the following link: https://www.bywaterbooks.com/product/dear-miss-cushman-by-paula-martinac/ For readers who would like to learn more about Paula and her publications, please click on the following link: http://paulamartinac.com/

I contacted Paula and asked her how she went about researching and writing Dear Miss Cushman. Here is what she sent to me:

Dear Miss Cushman grew out of my awe for people of the distant past who pursued same-sex relationships or presented as physically different from the sex assigned them at birth—even though there wasn’t any queer identity as we now know it. The self-awareness and self-reliance they must have had amazes me. For example, real-life American actress Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) not only forged her career playing roles written for men, like Romeo and Hamlet, but engaged in long-term romantic relationships with equally accomplished women. How were these women able to discover who they were?

I’ve always loved theater and I’ve had some plays produced, so Cushman seemed like a ripe topic for my fiction. Even so, I didn’t want to be confined by her biography. When I read that she had a following of adoring young female fans, including aspiring actresses, my character Georgiana “Georgie” Cartwright was born, along with the idea that Georgie might write Cushman letters asking for advice.

I’d never written a novel set in the 19th century, and it required a daunting amount of research. As I wrote, I kept having to go back and do even more research, digging up little details to make Georgie’s world feel real. Still, the process went quickly and was a lot of fun, aided by a 2019-2020 Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts and Science Council. The fellowship allowed me to turn down a few teaching gigs, giving me time to devote to the project. I was also able to make a research trip to Wilmington to visit Thalian Hall, one of the only remaining mid-19th-century theaters in the country, which still has its original painted curtain and a “thunder roll” once used to simulate storms. Standing center stage, I could imagine what Georgie saw and felt when she looked out over the footlights and that added texture to the book.

Toward the beginning of Dear Miss Cushman, Georgie writes her first letter to Charlotte Cushman. In her letter, she writes, “I had the pleasure of accompanying my uncle to The Broadway last night to see your performance of Romeo. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!” Well, following Georgie’s lead, all I can say to Paula is thank you, thank you, thank you for the memorable contributions to Storied Charlotte’s ever-expanding library.

Tags: 19th century historical fiction lesbian writers

Theatre Charlotte’s 15th Annual Production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol

November 29, 2021 by Mark West

The holiday season is all about reconnecting with the stories that we associate with the holidays. For Theatre Charlotte, this involves staging a production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Since 2006, Theatre Charlotte has brought Dickens’s 1843 Christmas classic to the Queen City, and Theatre Charlotte is keeping this tradition alive. Directed by Jill Bloede, this year’s production stars Hank West as Ebenezer Scrooge.

There were some difficult logistical issues that needed to be addressed in order to make this production a reality. Theatre Charlotte’s home auditorium was damaged by a fire on December 28, 2020, and the building is still in the process of being repaired. For this reason, Theatre Charlotte is staging all of the productions for its 94^th season at various locations throughout the Charlotte area, which is why they are billing it as the Road Trip Season Tour. The production of A Christmas Carol will take place at The Halton Theatre at CPCC from December 16 through December 19. Of course, the pandemic also presents logistical problems, and Theatre Charlotte is responding to this concern by requiring proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test in order to attend this production. For more information about Theatre Charlotte’s production of A Christmas Carol, please click on the following link: https://www.simpletix.com/e/a-christmas-carol-tickets-75178

Theatre Charlotte’s annual production of A Christmas Carol has a special meaning for me, for it evokes one of my favorite childhood memories. Throughout my childhood, my father read aloud to my brother, sister, and me every night after we finished our homework. We had no television, so listening to Dad read was our main form of evening entertainment. One of my father’s favorite authors was Charles Dickens, and he read to us a number of Dickens’s novels. One Christmas Eve, he took Dickens’s A Christmas Carol off the shelf and read it to us. Mom didn’t usually listen to Dad read aloud, but that night she joined us in the living room. The reading of A Christmas Carol became an annual ritual. I still cherish the memory of our entire family sitting in the living room, gazing at our Christmas tree, and listening to Dad once again relate the story of Scrooge’s reformation.

The sharing of stories is one of the reasons the holiday season resonates with meaning for so many people, and one such story of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. By staging a production of this classic tale every December, Theatre Charlotte has added something special to Storied Charlotte’s holiday traditions.

Martin Settle’s Creations

November 22, 2021 by Mark West

The other day, I was looking at the home page for Charlotte Readers Podcast, and I saw an announcement about an episode featuring Martin Settle and his new memoir titled Teaching During the Jurassic: Wit and Wisdom from an Old Hippie Teacher. I listened to the podcast, and I enjoyed hearing Marty talk about his experiences as a teacher. What I liked the most, however, was just hearing Marty’s voice again. To hear this podcast, please click on the following link: https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/martin-settles-teaching-during-the-jurassic-is-wit-wisdom-and-humor-in-the-classroom/

I first met Marty when he and his wife, Deborah Bosley, moved to Charlotte in the early 1990s. Marty enrolled in UNC Charlotte’s English MA program during the time period that I was directing the program, so I got to know him first as a graduate student. After he earned his MA, he became a lecturer in the English Department and continued to teach in the department until 2010 when he retired. Marty and I often talked during his years at UNC Charlotte, and I miss those impromptu conversations.

In the years since his retirement, Marty has hardly slowed down. He has published four books of poetry: The Theology of Dunes (Main Street Rag, 2015); Coming to Attention: Developing the Habit of Haiku (Main Street Rag, 2016); The Backbone Alphabet (Xlibris, 2017); and Maple Samaras (Wild Leek Press, 2018). He has also made a name for himself as an assemblage artist. He creates sculptures out of found objects and items acquired at garage sales. His most recent creative project is his memoir, which came out in August of this year. For more information about Marty’s various creations, please click on the following link: https://www.martinsettleartist.com/

I contacted Marty after listening to his Charlotte Readers Podcast, and I asked him how his experiences in Charlotte influenced his writing career. Here is what he sent to me:

Coming to Charlotte and working at the university provided me with the fertile ground for my writing to blossom. There were three people in Charlotte crucial to my development as a writer: Robin Hemley, Irene Blair Honeycutt, and Scott Douglas.

When I first began to teach at UNC Charlotte, Robin Hemley was the head of our creative writing program at UNC Charlotte. Not only was Robin an excellent novelist, but he took his role seriously in providing workshops and readings for the Charlotte community. These workshops and readings primed the pump of my desire to write myself. Further, because of Robin Hemley, I was introduced to a poet, who greatly influenced me – Charles Simic. Simic, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, was the poet that I modeled myself after in the beginning years of my writing

Irene Blair Honeycutt has become an institution at Central Piedmont Community College as the founder of one of the most prestigious art events of the year Sensoria. When I first came to Charlotte, Irene had just begun her Spring Literary Festival (eventually these developed into Sensoria), which included respected writers, readings, and workshops. Attending these events, I was able to get inspiration and writing advice from the likes of Miroslav Holub and Mark Doty. Ms. Honeycutt’s own poetry and instruction were valuable as well.

Finally, I am one of the many writers that Scott Douglas has taken under the wing with his press Main Street Rag. For years, Scott provided a monthly reading series at Vin Masters, a wine shop. During this time, I was able to gather the courage to read my works during the open mic sessions. Eventually, Scott offered to publish my first book of poetry, The Teleology of Dunes, and my second book, Coming to Attention: Developing the Habit of Haiku. There is nothing so encouraging as to see your book in print for the first time.

Without the aid of the above Charlotteans, I know my writing efforts would have withered on the vine. Each has contributed key pieces to my serendipitous journey to become a writer.

In the years since Marty retired from his teaching career, he has blossomed as a poet and artist. His creative work takes various forms, but it’s unified by his deep interest in philosophical questions. Whether he is writing poems, creating sculptures, or reflecting on his teaching career, he is always playing with ideas. His philosophical approach is reflected in the titles of some of his works. The title of his first book refers to the philosophical concept of teleology. The title of his best-known sculpture is Descartes’ Dream, which is a reference to the French philosopher René Descartes. In my opinion, Marty’s varied talents and wide-ranging philosophical interests qualify him as Storied Charlotte’s very own Renaissance man.

Of Earth and Sky and Charlotte Poets

November 15, 2021 by Mark West

During the month of October, lines of poetry suddenly popped up in many locations in uptown Charlotte. These poetic snippets were part of a larger multi-media project called Of Earth and Sky. The brainchild of British installation artist Luke Jerram, this project originated in the city of Gloucester in the UK in 2020, and it is now touring the world. Jerram envisioned Earth and Sky as a large-scale poetry installation in which he used lines from poems to form a temporary sculpture trail. For more information about Jerram’s vision for this project, please click on the following link: https://www.ofearthandsky.co.uk/

Of Earth and Sky made its American debut in Charlotte thanks to Blumenthal Performing Arts. In preparing for the Charlotte version of this project, the project leaders and poetry curators associated with Blumenthal solicited original poems by Charlotte writers and then used lines from these poems for the installation in uptown. Although the installation came down on October 31, 2021, the project lives on in the form of a newly published book titled Of Earth and Sky: Poetry Anthology 2021. This anthology includes one poem from each of the 200 Charlotte writers who submitted their poetry to the Of Earth and Sky installation project. For more information about the anthology, please click on the following link: https://ofearthandskyclt.com/poetry-book/

The anthology begins with commentary by two of the project leaders. Bree Stallings, the Director of Artistic Experiences at Blumenthal Performing Arts, describes that project as “a small moment of escape, a way of looking at our city, and ourselves, differently, and to remember we were all put on this world to draw metaphor where there is fact, and to make special the mundane.” Boris “Buzz” Rogers, the Director of Creative Engagement at Blumenthal Performing Arts, explains that the leaders of this project “reached out to the entire city of Charlotte and asked its residents … to share their stories—stories of hope, happiness, sadness, love, loss and all the in-between.”

The poems in this anthology are rooted in Charlotte. The poets touch on the experience of living in Charlotte during this current stressful time in our city’s history. Some of the poems are deeply personal. Some capture a special moment in time. Some are spiritual in tone. And some are specifically about Charlotte or places in Charlotte. For example, Jamaal Cowan’s poem, “Heart of the City” is about the experience of sitting “at the corner of Trade and Tryon.”

I think that all of the poets in this anthology rose to the challenge of sharing their stories. The anthology comes in the form of one 145-page book, but in a sense, it provides 200 glimpses of contemporary life in Storied Charlotte.

Tags: anthology Charlotte poets poetry

Southern Children’s Literature in the Classroom

November 08, 2021 by Mark West

Since last April, I have had the privilege of leading a seminar for Charlotte teachers on using Southern children’s literature in the classroom. The seminar is offered through the Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI), a collaborative program involving the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), UNC Charlotte, and Johnson C. Smith University. Our last seminar meeting will take place this week. For more information about CTI, please click on the following link: https://charlotteteachers.org/

Over the course of our CTI seminar, we read and discussed several books for children and young adults in which the American South plays an integral role in the stories. We started with Dori Sanders’s Clover, a novel that is set just south of Charlotte. In this novel, Clover, a ten-year-old African American girl, struggles to form a relationship with her new stepmother, who is white. Southern food figures prominently in their efforts to communicate with each other. We then read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor’s Newbery-winning novel that takes place in rural Mississippi during the 1930s. During our discussion of this novel, we explored the impact of sharecropping on the lives of African Americans in the Jim Crow era. The next novel we read was Bette Greene’s Summer of My German Soldier, a novel that takes place in a small Arkansas town during World War Two. Patty, the central character, is a young Jewish girl growing up in a town there are very few Jews. In our seminar, we talked about the role that religion plays in the story. We then read Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out & Back Again, a verse novel in which a Vietnamese family moves to Alabama at the end of the Vietnam War. The last book on our reading list was Tangerine, Edward Bloor’s young adult novel that takes place in contemporary Florida. We also talked about Southern folklore and picture books set in the South. After discussing these works, the teachers then developed their own curricular plans involving the use of Southern children’s and young adult literature in their own classroom situations.

What I enjoyed the most about our seminar discussions was how these teachers related the readings to students in their classes. I was pleased that these teachers wanted to provide their students with books about characters with whom their students could relate in a personal way. I liked how these teachers drew connections between the characters’ complex family situations and their students’ families. Many of these teachers have students in their classes who just recently moved to Charlotte from other countries, and they related their students’ experiences to some of the characters’ experiences as recent immigrants. Our discussions were wide-ranging. Of course, we talked about literature, but we also talked about history, folklore, foodways, art, family dynamics, and race relations. As I see it, literature can serve as a gateway to many topics, and that is one of the reasons why literature belongs in the classroom.

I will miss meeting with these teachers on a weekly basis, but I feel reassured that CMS has such caring and talented teachers. In my book, teachers are among the heroes in Storied Charlotte’s grand saga.

Tags: Southern Children's Literature teachers

Celebrating Gail E. Haley, Charlotte’s Winner of the Caldecott Medal

November 01, 2021 by Mark West

Fifty years ago, Gail E. Haley, Charlotte’s most famous picture book author, received the Caldecott Medal for her picture book A Story A Story. The Caldecott Medal is the most prestigious picture book award given in the United States, and Haley was catapulted to the top of the picture book world when she received this award. In celebration of this anniversary, the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte is sponsoring two upcoming events and an exhibit related to Haley’s “life and artistry.” Adreonna Bennett, the Community Engagement Archivist at Akins Library, working collaboratively with a team of librarians and other staff members associated with Atkins Library, organized this celebration. I contacted Adreonna and asked her for more information. Here is what she sent to me:

Gail Haley is a native Charlottean born in 1939 and raised in the township of Shuffletown, which is a stone’s throw away from the city’s northern edge. From a young age, Haley showed an interest in the arts and literature. Her father, who was an art director for The Charlotte Observer, would bring her with him and through this she learned more about the newspaper. She went on to study art and illustration at the Richmond Professional Institute and the University of Virginia.

Haley self-published her first book, My Kingdom for a Dragon, in 1962. The theme of her initial storybook was an allegory for having dreams that no one else believes in, reflecting her feelings at the time. This book, like many of her works, utilizes wood blocks and ink to create beautiful landscapes and distinct characters. Haley would go on to publish over 40 children’s books to date. In 1971, Haley won the Caldecott Medal, awarded by the American Library Association, for her children’s book A Story A Story. The book retells the West African folktale of Ananse the spiderman and trickster who stole stories from the Sky God to give them to humans. Haley first heard the stories of Ananse during her time living in St. Thomas, and this experience inspired her to create A Story A Story. Still beloved by children and valued by educators 50 years later, A Story A Story continues to touch the lives of young children and adults alike.

In 1976, Haley was awarded Britain’s Kate Greenaway Medal for her book The Post Office Cat, making her the only illustrator to have the distinction of winning both of these prestigious awards. She was also awarded Japan’s Kodai Tosho and the Kerlan Award given by the University of Minnesota Libraries. In addition to her many awards, she also served as Writer in Residence for Appalachian State University. Haley continues to be renowned for not only her mastery of illustration using traditional wood block and linoleum cuts as well as paint and ink but also for her storytelling and her use of lyrical sentences and higher vocabulary in her books.

The J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections and University Archives is home to the Gail E. Haley Collection, which includes original manuscripts from Haley’s books, woodcut blocks used to create illustrations, and a plethora of other materials. Gail Haley’s oral history interviews can also be found in our online repository https://goldmine.charlotte.edu/

To honor Gail Haley’s achievements in the field of children’s literature and illustration, J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte will be hosting a slate of events:

An exhibit on the ground floor of Atkins Library will display materials from the library’s Gail Haley collection, featuring artwork from of A Story A Story: October 15th-November 29th, 2021
A linoleum-cutting workshop in the Makerspace of the library’s Area 49: November 3, 1-3 pm. Participation is limited, so please register.
A virtual discussion with Gail Haley and Professor of English Mark West: November 8, 4-5:30 pm. Register.

In the fifty years since Haley received the Caldecott Medal for A Story A Story, the children’s literature scene in Charlotte has changed a lot. Charlotte is now the home of many picture-book authors and illustrators, including Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Gordon C. James, Matt Myers, Brandon Reese, and Alicia D. Williams. Still, there is still only one person from Storied Charlotte who has won the Caldecott Medal, and that person is Gail E. Haley.

Tags: picture book authors picture books wood blocks

Remembering the Main Library: Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s “One for the Books” Celebration

October 25, 2021 by Mark West

For Charlotte’s lovers of books and stories, the land on the corner of 300 North Tryon Street and Sixth Street is hallowed grounds. Since 1903, a public library has stood on this site. The first, known as the Carnegie Library, opened on July 2, 1903. This stately building was replaced in 1956 with a larger library that reflected the sleek, modernist style associated with the 1950s. The 1956 building underwent a complete renovation and major expansion in the mid-1980s, resulting in the current Main Library, which opened the public in 1989. For more information about the first two libraries located on this site, I recommend David W. Erdman’s 100 Lost Architectural Treasures of Old Charlotte.

Soon the Main Library will be demolished to make room for a new $100 million, five-storied library, but first, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is holding a nine-day celebration called One for the Books to remember and honor the history of the Main Library. Scheduled for November 6 – 14, 2021, One for the Books is billed as “a one-time, free opportunity for our community to honor the history of an uptown anchor, say goodbye to the current building, and welcome the future together.” For more information about the One for the Books celebration, please click on the following link: https://foundation.cmlibrary.org/one-for-the-books/

I have many fond memories of the Main Library, so of course, I will be participating in One for the Books. When I first moved to Charlotte in 1984, the 1956 building was still in use, and I quickly became a regular patron. I remember feeling frustrated when it closed for renovation in 1987, but I enjoyed participating in the events associated with the Main Library’s grand opening in 1989.

Two years later, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library started its Novello Festival of Reading, the predecessor to the current Verse and Vino event. Many of the presentations and activities associated with Novello took place in the Main Library, and I often attended. Before long I became a community volunteer, and for many years I helped organize the children’s side of Novello. When the recession of 2009 forced the library to discontinue the Novello Festival of Reading, I co-organized a community version of this event that we called A Tribute to Novello. I remember spending many hours in the Main Library coordinating this event, and I loved every minute of it. All of the authors and community members who helped did so on a volunteer basis. We were all motivated by our love of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

Before ImaginOn opened in 2005, the Main Library included a large children’s area, and I often took our son there. When he was about six, he developed a strong interest in castles. I took him to the Main Library where a helpful librarian helped him find an arm-load of books about castles. We brought the books home, and he consulted them while drawing his own versions of castles. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but he is now a professional architect here in Charlotte although he generally designs apartment complexes rather than castles.

My most recent memories of the Main Library relate to the films that Sam Shapiro showed in the Main Library. Prior to his recent retirement, Sam ran the film side of the library for years, and he often organized film festivals around various themes. He always gave a little talk about the film that he was about to show, and I learned a lot about film history from his talks and from seeing the films. He usually showed the films in the Francis Auditorium at the Main Library, and I usually sat in the audience. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and I miss it.

As part of the One for the Books celebration, members of the public are invited to upload short videos of themselves reading from favorite books. I selected a passage from Christopher Paul Curtis’s Bud, Not Buddy for my contribution. In this passage, Bud goes to his public library to find help with a problem that he is having. I think it is a fitting passage to read since so many of us have gone to the Main Library to find help locating a desired book or to find help with a research question or find help formulating our weekend plans.

I served as one of the members of the community who provided input to the architects of the new library, so I have seen the plans and renderings for this new library. From what I have seen, I am sure it will be a true community treasure when it opens in a few years, and I can’t wait to visit it. Still, I know that many of us miss the Main Library, for it has long played a starring role in the history of Storied Charlotte.

Lisa Zerkle and the Charlotte Lit 4X4CLT Poetry/Art Poster Series

October 18, 2021 by Mark West

Charlotte poet Lisa Zerkle published a poetry chapbook a few years ago titled Heart of the Light. It seems fitting to me that the word “light” is in the title, for Lisa has a knack for shining a spotlight on poets. In 2005 she co-founded KAKALAK: An Anthology of Carolina Poets, an annual collection that she went on to co-edit for a number of years. As the co-editor of KAKALAK, she enjoyed pairing the featured poems with artwork, and this experience caused her to come up with another way to spotlight the works of poets. In 2016, she brought the idea to Charlotte’s newly-created literary arts organization. With Lisa as curator, Charlotte Lit launched 4X4CLT, a poetry/art poster series involving the production and display of posters featuring poems and original artwork. She called it 4X4CLT because she pairs four poems with four works by local artists.

I’ve seen these cool 4X4CLT posters around town over the past few years, but I only recently realized that Lisa is the person behind this project. My curiosity got the best of me, so I contacted Lisa and asked her for more information about the 4X4CLT project. Here is what she sent to me:

When I fell for poetry, I fell hard. But I was acutely aware that this love of mine was not shared by the public at large. When they thought of poetry (if they thought of it at all) it was something rhymed, something written by a dead person, or something they had to learn for a test. That didn’t square with the fresh, timely, heartbreaking, compelling work I came across every time I read a book of contemporary poetry or literary journal. If they could read what I was reading, I figured, they’d love it, too.

4X4CLT sprang out of this desire to share poetry in the community, to get it out of books and into the public arena. It’s a quarterly event that revolves around the release of a poetry + art poster series. Each set of four posters pairs the work of nationally known poets with art by local artists. The weekend of the poster release includes a poetry reading and master class by the featured poet. After the release, the posters are displayed in 100+ places around Charlotte—coffee shops, book stores, libraries, breweries, and the like.

This structure allows for a casual encounter with poetry, perhaps while waiting in line for coffee; or a deeper involvement of attending a reading or class. My idea was to create the kind of programming I myself wanted to experience. But over the past five years, I’ve been grateful for the extent 4X4CLT has been embraced by the public. Charlotte Lit generously gave the idea a home. The Knight Foundation and the ASC provided major funding. Many local businesses agreed to display the posters, and many volunteers have pitched in to help deliver them.

The release events are celebrations of poetry and art, hosted in venues as diverse as Resident Culture Brewing, C3 Lab, CPCC, and Queens University. Often, the local artists attend the release events and talk about their process. We’ve heard about weaving, sculpting, painting, and photography. Over the years we’ve been honored to feature poets Linda Pastan, Sandra Beasley, Lola Haskins, Sarah Lindsay, Jessica Jacobs, Nickole Brown, Tyree Daye, A. Van Jordan, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Matthew Olzmann, Maurice Manning, Beth Ann Fennelly, Jennifer Chang, Cecily Parks, Richard Garcia, Morrie Creech, Terrance Hayes; and two poets laureate, Tracy K. Smith and Joy Harjo. Just last month, the host of the poetry podcast The Slowdown, Ada Limón, was our guest.

4X4CLT has been a labor of love, but the results have exceeded my expectations. As my own appreciation of poetry deepened, it’s led me to embark upon an MFA at Warren Wilson College. There’s one final edition of 4X4CLT this December. Our guest poet will be the newly minted MacArthur “Genius,” Reginald Dwayne Betts. He’ll give a reading at the Midwood International and Cultural Center in Plaza Midwood on Friday, December 3, and teach a master class on Saturday, December 4. Full details are here: https://www.charlottelit.org/4×4/

I wish Lisa all the best as she starts her MFA program at Warren Wilson College, and I am sure that she will go on to write new and inspiring works of poetry. However, as she turns a new page in her career, she should take pride in the success of her 4X4CLT project and her many other contributions to Storied Charlotte.

Tags: local artists poetry poetry and art

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