National Library Week runs from April 4 through April 10, 2021, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has timed the launching of its Bookmark the Town campaign to coincide with this special week for all lovers of libraries.  Like political campaigns, the Bookmark the Town campaign involves the planting of yard signs, but these specially designed signs provide space for everyone to recommend a favorite book.  These signs can be obtained by making a $15 gift to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  This campaign, however, is about more than raising much needed funds for the public library.  It is also about building a sense of community and starting conversations about books.

In order to find out more about the Bookmark the Town campaign, I contacted Melanie Baron, the Marketing and Communications Specialist with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation.  I asked her for a statement about the campaign, and here is what she sent to me:

This week is National Library Week, an annual celebration of the critical role of public libraries in our society. This year’s theme, “Welcome to Your Library” promotes the idea that Libraries are for everyone – and extend far beyond the walls of a building.

This was demonstrated over the past year, when your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library adapted to a quickly changing worlds by expanding digital resources, providing access to Wi-Fi and technology for those who need it, and partnering with parents, teachers and students navigating virtual schooling. Throughout, your Library never wavered from its mission to improve lives and build a stronger community.

Building a stronger community is what Bookmark the Town is all about. Books and stories inspire us, teach us, entertain us, and bring us together.  Bookmark the Town yard signs support your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, celebrate National Library Week, and share your favorite books – all at once! Plant a (physical or virtual) sign with a gift of $15 or more and help our community grow.

Opening a book can open a conversation…together, let’s build a stronger community and #bookmarkthetown!  What’s on your sign?

Well, my wife and I agreed right away to support the Bookmark the Town campaign, but deciding what book to recommend on our yard sign took a bit more time.  We briefly considered recommending books that we have written or books that our friends have written, but we rejected this approach in favor of recommending a classic book, a book that has touched both of our lives.  After some discussion, we agreed to recommend To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  It’s a book that we have both read on multiple occasions.  It’s a book that speaks to social problems and injustices that are as relevant today as they were when the book first appeared in 1960.  It’s a book that reflects and honors the intelligence of children.  It’s a book that extolls the importance of treating all people with respect and dignity and of standing up for one’s core principles and values. In the words, of Oprah Winfrey, “To Kill a Mockingbird is our national novel.”

The conversation that my wife and I had about what book to list on our yard sign is an example of how the Bookmark the Town campaign can open conversations about books.  For those of us who are served by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, this campaign is but one of many ways that our public library encourages all of us to participate in the cultural exchanges that are such an important part of life in Storied Charlotte. 

During my childhood, I thought that everybody followed the same system for measuring time, but I now know that people keep track of time in various ways.  I was reminded of this point a few months ago when I sent an email to Landis Wade, the driving force behind the Charlotte Readers Podcast.  At the time, I thought I would write something about the anniversary of the founding of his podcast, and I asked him about the specific date when he launched the podcast.  He responded by saying that he did not pay much attention to this anniversary date.  He wrote, “My anniversary of accomplishment will be the 200^th episode on April 13^th.”  Well, the 13^th of April is just around the corner, so I contacted Landis again and asked him for some more information about the Charlotte Readers Podcast and his plans for the 200^th episode.  Here is what he sent to me:

Charlotte Readers Podcast is a 30-minute podcast where local, regional, national and international authors give voice to their written words in an interview format with a short reading in the middle. Each episode is accompanied by a listener supported Patreon interview with a deeper dive into the craft or business of writing.

The 200^th episode celebrates with special guest and six-time New York Times bestselling and award-winning author, John Hart, whose latest book, The Unwilling, is the subject of the episode.  In his very first historical novel, John Hart returns to the South. The book is set in Charlotte during the height of the Vietnam War. It’s a novel inspired by the courage and sacrifice shown by soldiers who fought in that conflict.

Booklist calls the book “another scorcher.” Mystery and Suspense Magazine describes the book as “a very enjoyable, twisty ride.” AARP uses the words “unforgettable and propulsive.” Several New York Times bestselling authors say the book “is crime fiction at its absolute best,” “richly complex,” and “somehow, raw, tender, brutal and exquisite–all at the same time. Exceptional.”

I am especially proud of both the 100^th episode and the upcoming 200^th episode.  The 100^th episode featured bestselling Longmire author Craig Johnson who writes engaging novels and tells great stories on the side. The upcoming 200^th features John Hart, and he was a good sport when he agreed to be the guest for this special episode.  We joked about how he was “finally” able to get on Charlotte Readers Podcast.

As part of the celebration of the 200^th episode, Charlotte Readers Podcast is sponsoring special giveaways.  Anyone who signs up for and is on the email newsletter, a/k/a The Book Report, by April 12, 2013 is eligible to win. Sign up HERE. Prizes include a Kindle, Beats Lex Wireless Earphones, beer mugs, pint glasses, bags, wine coolers and more.

Eligibility and other terms for 200th episode giveaways: Must be on the Charlotte Readers Podcast newsletter email list as of April 12, 2021 to be eligible to win. Winners will be announced in the April 13, 2021 newsletter a/k/a The Book Report. Announced winners forfeit their prize unless they send a return email with their mailing address in response to the April 13, 2021, newsletter by 5:00 pm EST on April 20, 2021, to claim their prize.

I think it is fitting that Landis is celebrating this special episode with John Hart.  The two of them have several points in common.  They both grew up in North Carolina, they both graduated from Davidson College, and they are both former lawyers who have taken an interest in literary matters.  The fact that Hart’s The Unwilling is set in Charlotte makes it especially appropriate to feature this novel on the 200^th episode of the Charlotte Readers Podcast.  Landis often features authors on his podcast whose books do not have Charlotte connections, but I am glad that this special episode showcases a novel that has such direct connections to Storied Charlotte. 

In my Storied Charlotte blog, I celebrate stories that have Charlotte connections.  I generally write about stories that are published in books, but this week’s blog post is about Delilah, the new television series that premiered last week on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network.  Filmed in Charlotte during the fall of 2020, Delilah makes extensive use of Charlotte locations.  Delilah is not the first television series to be filmed in Charlotte.  Several seasons of both Homeland and Banshee were filmed in the Charlotte area, but in these previous series Charlotte was used as a stand-in for other locations.  In Homeland, for example, Charlotte stood in for Washington, D.C.  Delilah, however, is a scripted television series that actually takes place in present-day Charlotte.  For more information about Delilah, please click on the following link:  https://www.oprah.com/app/delilah.html

Several major law firms are based in Charlotte, and Delilah deals extensively with this aspect of Charlotte.  Delilah Connolly, played by Maahra Hill, is the central character in the series.  She is an African American lawyer who stepped away from her successful career as a corporate lawyer in order to start her own solo practice and to spend more time with her children.  She is best friends with Tamara Grayson, played by Jill Marie Jones, who is an attorney with a powerful Charlotte law firm.  The friendship between Delilah and Tamara is tested when they find themselves on opposing sides of a thorny and controversial case. 

Viewers who live in Charlotte will recognize many of the locations used in the series.  The opening shot features Charlotte’s skyline.  The Fourth Ward, one of Charlotte’s urban neighborhoods, figures prominently in the series since Delilah lives in a townhouse in this neighborhood.  A pivotal scene was shot at the Northwest School of the Arts.  Other scenes were shot in west Charlotte as well as in the Ballantyne neighborhood. 

Several people from Charlotte participated in the production of the series.   Charlotte City Council member Braxton Winston worked as a member of the production crew.  Kelly Jacobs, a Charlotte native and talented violinist, plays the role of Delilah’s teenage daughter.  Martin Damien Wilkins, also a Charlotte native and graduate of Charlotte Latin School, assisted director and executive producer Charles Randolph-Wright throughout the production. Recent UNC Charlotte theatre alumna Kyra Hubert (’20) serves as a production assistant for the show. Theatre Department Adjunct Professor Jill Bloede was a featured actor (Caseworker) and Professor Bruce Auerbach was an extra in the series premiere.

For Charles Randolph-Wright, the opportunity to produce and direct Delilah was a homecoming of sorts.  He was born in York, South Carolina, but he often visited Charlotte throughout his growing-up years.   He now lives in New York, but he still identifies with Charlotte.   In speaking about his connections to Charlotte, he recently told a reporter from The Charlotte Observer, “I am so proud of from whence I came.  There’s a beauty and joy here that I really needed right now….  I spoke to City Council and was amazed to see how many people of color were in that room.  When I grew up, I don’t know, there may have been one or two.  People talk about diversity.  But to be in this city and see it—what a great thing.”  He sees Delilah as a “celebration” of being Black in Charlotte.

As the first scripted television series that is both filmed and set in Charlotte, Delilah has already earned a place of honor in the history of Storied Charlotte.  

Given that March is Women’s History Month, now is a perfect time to celebrate Mary Kratt and her many publications that deal with the history of women from the Charlotte area.

Mary was born in West Virginia, but she moved to Mecklenburg County at the age of eleven when her journalist father took a position with The Charlotte Observer.  She grew up in a rural part of the county, but she took many trips to Charlotte, and the city intrigued her.  When she moved to Charlotte as a young woman, she took an interest in the history of the city.  As the years went by, she established herself a local historian.  She published numerous books about the history of Charlotte, including Charlotte, North Carolina: A Brief History.  Mary has a particular interest in the roles that women have played in local history, and this interest is reflected in New South Women:  Twentieth-Century Women of Charlotte, North Carolina and several of her other books. Mary is also an award-winning poet.  Her most recent poetry collection is Watch Where You Walk, and many of the poems in this collection are about the lives of women from girlhood to old age.

I recently contacted Mary and asked her for more information about her publications that relate to the history of women from the Charlotte area.  Here is what she sent to me:

Where are they? It’s a question I asked when I researched books about Charlotte forty years ago to write a book about Charlotte history.  But where are the women? The only woman I could find was Mrs. “Stonewall” Jackson, the Charlotte widow of a Confederate general. They didn’t even include her name, Anna Morrison, so I began a fascinating search for others. That quest led to writing at least five of my books. 

In Charlotte: Spirit of the New South (revised and reprinted as Charlotte, North Carolina: A Brief History) Jane Smedburg Wilkes, a northerner come south, gathered women to fund and start Charlotte’s first hospital (1877). Mary Myers Dwelle energized citizens and school children to save a building and start North Carolina’s first museum, The Mint Museum of Art (1936).

In New South Women, I was commissioned to write about influential Charlotte women of the twentieth century who made their mark and were elected Women of the Year, such as Shirley Fulton, born on a cotton and tobacco farm coastal South Carolina, she came to Charlotte after law school and became resident Superior Court Judge. She said “My son started kindergarten the same year I started law school.”  Or novelist Ethel Thomas who in the 1930s loaded her truck with farm vegetables, put on her hat and long dress to infiltrate a union rally in Gastonia, so she could write about it.

For my book The Only Thing I Fear Is a Cow and a Drunken Man, I read letters and diaries of largely Piedmont Carolina women 1828-1929 and either edited them or wrote poems based on their experiences. Susan Nye Hutchinson was a widow traveling south to raise her children and start a school here for young girls in 1838-40. Margaret Courtney Conner, that inveterate journal keeper and newlywed from Charleston, crossed Laurel Creek 27 times on horseback to survey her husband’s  Mecklenburg lands and follow him into the mountains on adventure in the 1830s.

In a Bird In The House: The Story of Wing Haven Garden, I told the delightful story  of Elizabeth Clarkson’s courtship with illustrated vignettes of garden animals and interviews about the couple’s eccentric lives.  And in Watch Where You Walk, my collected poems, one section details the witty and colorful southern life of Martha Hood Norton from personal experience.

Writing each of these, I discovered the marvel of women transcending immense hardship and hurdles. And in my many personal interviews with women, I took great pleasure because women will tell you unusual details and reveal the most astonishing things.

I have known Mary for many years.  I first met her when she enrolled as a graduate student in UNC Charlotte’s graduate program in English in the early 1990s.  I was serving as the Director of the American Studies Program at the time, and she contacted me about her interest in pursuing an American Studies research project on the labor novels associated with Gastonia’s textile mills in the 1920s.  She ended up doing a directed reading with me on this topic, and she wrote an excellent paper in which she discussed how these labor novels relate to women’s history.   In this paper and in so many of her publications, Mary shows how women have played integral roles in the history of Storied Charlotte and the surrounding communities.

My sister, Anna, was born on my second birthday. When my parents brought Anna home from the hospital, they introduced me to her and told me that Anna was my birthday present. According to my parents, I responded by saying, “But I wanted a truck.” Well, I soon got over getting a sister instead of a truck. As we grew up together, I came to enjoy sharing a birthday with my sister.  We each had our own birthday party, but we also celebrated together. Our shared birthday is one of the many things that bonds us. I feel the same way about sharing an anniversary with Charlotte Lit. A year ago this week, I launched my Storied Charlotte blog, and five years ago this week, the Charlotte Center for Literary Arts, more commonly known as Charlotte Lit, made its public debut.

My Storied Charlotte blog and Charlotte Lit are both rooted in Charlotte’s community of readers and writers, and both celebrate authors from Charlotte. For example, in my first Storied Charlotte blog post, I wrote about Carson McCullers and her novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, which she started writing a block from where I live. Similarly, one of Charlotte Lit’s first major initiatives was a year-long celebration McCullers and her connections to Charlotte. Charlotte Lit, however, is a far bigger enterprise than my blog. It sponsors classes, writing workshops, poetry readings, book launches, and many more events and programs. For more information about Charlotte Lit, please click on the following link: https://www.charlottelit.org/about/

I recently contacted Paul Reali, a co-founder and Operations Manager of Charlotte Lit, and asked him for more information about Charlotte Lit’s first five years. Here is what he sent to me:

Charlotte Lit’s genesis story arises directly from myth. Or, at least, from the seeds of one woman’s love of myth. In 2014, after two years of solitary work completing her dissertation for a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies, poet Kathie Collins decided she’d reached the end of her ability to toil away in isolation.

She imagined a creative co-op, a place for writers and other creatives to work together in community. So, she set out with her dream––and a few pieces of furniture cast off from the bonus room where her college-aged kids had once gathered round a shared desktop and the family TV––and found affordable space in a repurposed CMS school building in Plaza Midwood. The old classroom, in what is now known the Midwood International and Cultural Center, had charm—natural light from tall windows, hardwood floors, and a pencil sharpener bolted to the wall.

Kathie was hoping for six or eight writers to join and share the rent—but the only one to sign on was me. I’m a self-employed corporate trainer who at the time was scaling back that business in order to develop my writing practice. Soon we started thinking about what we might do with this great space we had. We held a few “creative conversations” that drew a couple dozen people and we knew we were onto something. We started thinking about teaching classes, and other ways to bring writers and readers together.

One day in the summer of 2015 I got a text from Kathie. She’d been walking and a phrase had come into her head: Charlotte Center for Literary Arts. “That’s what we’re building,” she wrote.

We gathered a focus group and asked the key questions: what could this thing be, and do we need it here? We incorporated in October 2015 and spent the next few months shaping the org before launching on February 19, 2016, with an event called “Light the Night.” More than 100 people joined us for the opening, headlined by poet Linda Pastan and graciously hosted by our Midwood Center neighbor the Light Factory in their gallery. Most of that evening’s guests immediately became Charlotte Lit members, and many have been with us ever since. We now have more than 200 annual membership subscribers and reach more than 1,500 people each year. It turns out the community did need Charlotte Lit; one of the more gratifying things we hear is “we didn’t know we needed this until you created it.”

We’ve experimented with different offerings during our five years. (We’re rife with ideas, and not afraid to try things and see what sticks.) A number of those offerings remain core to the organization. We’re probably best known for our craft classes, but we also have a strong following for the many lit-based talks, readings, and conversations open to the public. Each year we hold about 100 classes, half of them free, and all classes have available scholarships. We have a multi-year program for book writers called Authors Lab. And we occasionally do big events, such as a year-long series in 2017 to honor Carson McCullers, who began writing The Heart is a Lonely Hunter here in the 1930s and who shares our February 19 birthday, and our NC Arts Council-supported 2019 community-wide Beautiful Truth personal story-telling initiative. One of our most visible ongoing public programs is the 4X4CLT quarterly poetry+art poster series curated by Lisa Zerkle. This program matches a nationally known poet with a local artist, resulting in four beautiful posters being displayed all over the county, and a public reading by the poet which always draws 50-100 people.

Five years down the road, we’re proud to now be included in the list of Charlotte arts organizations receiving operational funding from the ASC. As much as we’ve grown and accomplished, however, connecting people—writers and readers—to one another remains at the heart of all we do. Kathie had community in mind when she first walked through the Midwood Center’s doors, and community has been part of Charlotte Lit’s mission ever since. Not coincidentally, we now have two classrooms in the Midwood Center, one of which is available daily to our members as an inviting place to practice their craft “in community,” just as Kathie first imagined. We’re looking forward to having both classrooms open full-time again in the fall, and keeping the Charlotte Lit story going.

I thank Kathie Collins, Paul Reali and the many other people associated with Charlotte Lit for all of their contributions to Storied Charlotte, and I enthusiastically wish Charlotte Lit a happy fifth birthday. Although I can’t provide everybody with a truck as a birthday present, I can offer a quotation by Robert Crumb: “Keep on truckin’!”