4X4CLT — Poetry+Art Poster Series
4X4CLT is Charlotte Lit’s poetry+art showcase series. For each release we create four posters featuring four poems and four works of art. The posters are released at a public reading and celebration with the featured poets and artists. After each event, the posters are displayed in public places throughout the city—coffee shops, waiting rooms, libraries, storefronts. View this year’s releases below, and all previous releases here.
Reginald Dwayne Betts transformed himself from a sixteen-year-old kid sentenced to nine years in prison to a critically acclaimed writer and graduate of the Yale Law School. He’s the author of three volumes of poetry, including his most recent, Felon, and his writing interrogates and challenges our notions of justice. An in-demand speaker, Betts speaks about his own experiences and the role that grit, perseverance, and literature played in his success. He also lectures on mass incarceration, contemporary poetry, and the intersection of literature and advocacy. Betts is uniquely positioned to speak to the failures of the current criminal justice system and presents encouraging ideas for change. His writing and activism has generated national attention, earning him a Soros Justice Fellowship, a Radcliffe Fellowship, a Ruth Lily Fellowship, an NAACP Image Award, and New America Fellowship.
Ada Limón
In partnership with Arts at Queens
Friday, September 10: Poster release and reading at Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for the Arts And Civic Engagement, 6 p.m.
Saturday, September 11: Master class at Charlotte Lit
Poet Ada Limón is a current Guggenheim fellow, and the author of five poetry collections, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Her other collections are Lucky Wreck (2006), This Big Fake World (2006), Sharks in the Rivers (2010), and Bright Dead Things (2015), a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Books Critics Circle Award. She earned an MFA from New York University, and is the recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, Harvard Review, Pleiades, and Barrow Street. Limón is on faculty of the Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency MFA program and the 24Pearl Street Online Program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. She splits her time between Kentucky, California, and New York.
Poster Hosts
To display these posters in your place of business, send a request to series curator Lisa Zerkle: lisaz@charlottelit.org.
We’re grateful to our gracious hosts who provide their walls as gallery space for 4X4CLT in support of public art in the Charlotte area. Have you seen a 4X4CLT poster at a favorite hangout? Snap a picture and tag CharlotteLit on Instagram!
Ayrsley/Steele Creek
Ayrsley Grand Cinema 14
Carolina Beer Temple
The Peaceful Dragon
Steele Creek Branch, Public Library
Ballantyne
Sunflour Baking Company
Beatties Ford
Beatties Ford Branch, Public Library
Bette Rae Recreation Center
Enderly Coffee
Northwest School of the Arts
Wallace Pruitt Recreation Center
Camp North End
Goodyear Arts
Davidson
Davidson Branch, Public Library
Main Street Books, Davidson
Moxie Mercantile
Dilworth/Myers Park
Be Yoga
Paper Skyscraper
Regal Manor Twin Theatre
Theatre Charlotte
Queens University of Charlotte
Yoga One
Eastway
EastSide Local Eatery
Visart Video
Elizabeth
Central Piedmont Community College, Main Campus
Earl’s Grocery
Sunflour Baking Company
The Bag Lady
The Third Place Coffee
Villani’s Bakery
Freemore West
Hygge Coworking
Rhino Market
Town Brewing Company
West Boulevard Branch, Public Library
Yoga for Life
Gastonia/Kings Mountain
Gaston Public Library
Hive Design/Stationery/Gifts
Loray Mill, Alfred C. Kessell History Center
Southern Arts Society
Harrisburg
Sunflour Baking Company
Matthews/Mint Hill/Pineville
Carolina Beer Temple
CrossFit Jane
Independence Branch, Public Library
Mint Hill Branch, Public Library
Temple Mojo Growler Shop
The Book Rack
Misenheimer
Pfeiffer University
Montford/Park Road
Movement Dialogues
Park Road Books
Pasta & Provisions
NoDa
The Artisan’s Palate
Birdsong Brewing
Free Range Brewing
Khali Yoga
NoDa Bodega
NoDa Company Store
popbar
Pura Vida Worldly Art
Rhino Market
Smelly Cat Coffeehouse
Plaza Midwood
Advent Coworking
Book Buyers
Boris & Natasha
Charlotte Center for Literary Arts
CLTCH
Gear Goat Exchange
Legion Brewing
The Light Factory
Lunchbox Records
Moxie Mercantile
Pilot Brewing
Plaza Midwood Branch, Public Library
Pure Pizza
Resident Culture Brewing Company
Sanctuary Imports
Two Scoops Creamery
Undercurrent Coffee
Yoga One
South End
C3 Lab
Golden Cow Creamery
Lincoln’s Haberdashery
Red Clay Ciderworks
Triple C Brewing
Vin Master
Wooden Robot
Southpark
Golden Cow Creamery
Legion Brewing
Myers Park High School
University
UNC Charlotte
University City Regional Branch, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Uptown
Hygge Coworking
Johnson and Wales University Library
Main Library
Rhino Market
7th Street Public Market
Wendover/Monroe Road
Julia’s Cafe & Books
Time Out Youth
Wilmore
Pasta & Provisions
