Join Charlotte Lit members select Wednesday nights from 7-9 p.m. for inspiring conversations, workshops, member readings, and community write-ins. Free for all Charlotte Lit members and for guests accompanied by a member, $5 for non-members. (General memberships start at $75 and are available here.) Spaces are limited, so registration is required (links below, once registration is open for an event).

Jan 4: Lit Writes: Community write-in followed by writing chat.

Jan 11: Lit Reads: “The Hundred Story Home: A Journey of Self and Self-Publishing” with Kathy Izard. Join Charlotte author Kathy Izard for a reading and discussion on the ins and outs of successful self-publishing. Kathy released The Hundred Story Home with impressive local coverage in October 2016, and will share the wisdom she learned on the journey.

Jan 18: Lit Shops: “Creating Time” with Charlotte Lit co-founder Paul Reali. Making time for writing—or any creative outlet––is itself a creative act. If you’ve been struggling to find the minutes necessary to finally start (or finish) that short story, poetry collection, or novel, join us for a workshop on the art and science of creating time.

Jan 25: Lit Chats: Book Discussion: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers with Charlotte Lit co-founder Kathie Collins, Ph.D. Charlotte Lit’s year-long centennial celebration of renowned author Carson McCullers begins with a discussion of this best-selling novel, which McCullers wrote much of while living in Charlotte in 1936 and 1937. The novel, which sensitively explores themes of discrimination was a breakout success and remains a page-turning read concerning the most important issues of McCullers day—and ours! Register

Feb 1: Lit Writes: Community write-in followed by writing chat.

Feb 8: Lit Chats: “Carson McCullers’ Charlotte” with Tom Hanchett. Charlotte’s enigmatic people and places appear hidden (and not so hidden) in McCullers’ break-out novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Join historian and Charlotte Lit member Tom Hanchett for a talk and group discussion on the historical relevance and continuing influence of McCullers’ famous work.

Feb 15: Lit Shops: “Shape-shifting: When Novel Becomes Film” with Sam Shapiro, curator of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library’s film series. Join us for a closer look at the transformation that occurs when popular novels are adapted for the screen. Among other examples, Shapiro will draw from director Robert Ellis Miller’s film adaptation of Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

Feb 22: Lit Reads: “Living on the Edge:” Readings by Poets Diana Pinckney and David Radavich. In these post-election weeks and months, most of us keenly identify with a sense of living on the precipice’s edge. Since the traditional role of the poet in society is to name and articulate with fresh language our communal experience, we’ve asked two Charlotte Lit members, award-winning poets and teachers Diana Pinckney and David Radavich to address the edge—in all the myriad ways they’ve experienced it. Come listen­­—and stay to talk!

Mar 15: Lit Shops: “The Art and Soul of Reading a Poem,” with Charlotte Lit co-founder Kathie Collins. A dialogue-based class for readers, writers, and anyone who wants to learn the art of drinking a poem to its dregs. We’ll use multiple approaches, including dialogue, journaling, and meditation, to get to the heart of the poem—and ourselves.

April 19: Lit Chats: Book Discussion: The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers with Charlotte Lit co-founder Kathie Collins.

April 26: Lit Reads: Reading: Paula Martinac. Paula Martinac’s fourth novel, The Ada Decades, was recently published by Bywater Books. She is the author of three other novels, including Out of Time, which won a Lambda Literary Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the ALA Gay and Lesbian Book Award. Other publications include three nonfiction books as well as numerous articles, essays, and short stories. She teaches creative writing at UNC Charlotte and is a writing coach for Charlotte Lit’s Authors Lab.

May 3: Lit Chats: Book Discussion: George Orwell’s 1984, with Lisa Zerkle.

May 17: Lit Shops: Seasoning Your Life With Haiku, with Marin Settle.

May 24: Lit Shows: Creative Storytelling and the Concept Album, with John Elderkin. Register