Teach / Facilitate at Charlotte Lit

We are always interested in meeting experienced teachers/trainers and facilitators who would like to learn more about us.

When you’re thinking about whether you might be a good fit for Charlotte Lit, please consider these points:

We define literature very broadly, and are open to classes for all forms: short stories, novels, creative non-fiction, storytelling, poetry, playwriting, screenplays, spoken word, blogging, essays, long-form journalism, and so on. Most classes will focus on a specific type of writing, but some can be more broad or bridge types.
For writing classes, our audience is writers of all skill levels and ambitions, from the hobbyist to the accomplished, and everywhere in between.
For reader and general-audience classes, the options are wide open. Our preference is for active versus passive learning (that is, an involved student versus one who is just listening), and for discussions and conversations that get people talking to each other.

Here are the essential categories we expect workshops to fall into, and we’re also open to any good ideas.

Skill-development workshops: improving one’s craft by writing and getting professional guidance and feedback. Examples: a four-session short story workshop which ends with each participant having completed a polished story; a two-session workshop on the opening of a novel, which ends with each writer having a polished first page; a one-session workshop on self-editing poetry, in which each writer brings two poems to work on during the session.
Knowledge-development workshops: learning about some element of writing, focused more on content delivery and discussion than skill building. Examples: an overview of the querying process and the format of query letters; an overview of self-publishing options; a comparison of blogging platforms.
Facilitated conversations: discussions of interest to writers, led by an experienced writer and facilitator. Examples: a discussion of favorite novel openings and why they work; sharing experiences of being a part-time writer while holding a full-time job; a discussion of a writing-related book, such as Stephen King’s On Writing.

Exploring literature: workshops designed for those who wish to dig deeper into literature and its place in society. This category can include such constructs as: an exploration of a single work of literature, an author, or a genre; “how to read…” workshops, which examine an author or type of work; and much more. For example, “Read Like a Writer” uses two works, read in advance, and looks at the writers’ decisions about point of view, scene, dialogue, and characters.
Personal development: a wide range of workshops designed for learning or personal growth that have literature at the center. For example, “Art & Soul: Journaling with Poetry and Art”; “Discover the Narrative in Dreaming Life: Dream Group Based on the Work of C.G. Jung.”
Facilitated conversations: discussions of interest to writers, led by an experienced facilitator. For example, a guided discussion of race in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me; how to read a poem; how archetypes are used in fiction.

How to Apply

This form gets the process started. Questions? Email admin@charlottelit.org.