Schedules - Archives

From the title of his recent books, readers could assume that author Randell Jones does a lot of traveling and they would be right. Those titles: In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone and In the Footsteps of Davy Crockett, are the fourth and fifth volumes of his “Footsteps”™ series of historical travel guides published by John F. Blair of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In this series, Jones separates fact from fiction, or in some cases, fact from mythology as is the case of Davy Crockett—who never actually went by the name Davy, but rather David.

Because his books are travel guides, Jones takes you right to the places where historical events took place. So, while Daniel Boone faced danger in the form of British soldiers, Cherokee warriors, Shawnee raiders, and frontier outlaws—not to mention the buffalo, bears, wolves, and panthers, the threat of starvation, fires, and freezing winters—readers of In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone can visit 85 of the same places the famous pioneer visited and face no greater dangers than bad weather, flat tires, and fast food.

In the Footsteps of Davy Crockett follows Crockett from his birth in 1786 near what is now Greeneville, Tennessee, to 49 sites in 10 states and the District of Columbia, culminating in his death at the Alamo in 1836. Of course, Mr. Jones does take the time to point out that Crockett, who was said to have been, “born on a mountaintop in Tennessee,” was actually born in a valley next to the Nolichucky River in what was (at that time) part of North Carolina.

Randell Jones lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and is a past president of the Overmountain Victory Trail Association, a historical re-enactor, and a storyteller who has performed at the National Storytelling Festival. He has been a consultant for the National Park Service, as well as the tourism departments of both North and South Carolina. He will be with us at the Charlotte Writers Club May 16^th for our final meeting before summer to talk about his travels, how he researches his books and how he goes about selecting his subject. He will also read a few passages from both In the Footsteps of Daniel Boone and In the Footsteps of Davy Crockett. Both books will be available for purchase at this meeting and there’s a good possibility that a few tall tales will be shared. Hope to see you there.

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April 18, 2006
7:00 PM
Great Aunt Stella Center

Adrian Rice, writer in residence for Lenoir-Ryne. Irish poet.

Adrian Rice

April is poetry month and as is our custom, the Charlotte Writers Club will welcome a poet to read and speak on April 18. Adrian Rice is an Adjunct Professor at Lenoir-Rhyne College and served as Visiting Writer-in-Residence there for 2005. He also teaches at Duke University for their Continuing Studies program.

Rice was born in Belfast in 1958. He was educated at the University of Ulster, where he graduated with a BA (Hons.) in English and Politics, and a Master of Philosophy in Anglo-Irish Literature (by thesis). He is a poet and the editor of Abbey Press, Newry, which he co-founded in 1997. Being an established poet on the Arts Councils' 'Writers-in-schools' scheme', he teaches creative writing workshops in schools and colleges throughout Ireland.

His first sequence of poems appeared in Muck Island (1990), a collaboration with leading Irish artist, Ross Wilson. Copies of this limited edition box set are housed in the collections of The Tate Gallery, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts and The Lamont Library, Harvard University. His second poetry sequence, Impediments (Abbey Press, 1997), also earned him widespread critical acclaim. He edited Signals (Abbey Press, 1997), an anthology of poetry and prose that was a Times Educational Supplement 'Paperback Choice'.

Rice has also edited five anthologies of children's poetry, art and drama - Life of the Lough (1999), Sea & Shore (2000), Around the Lough (2001), Lough Views (2003), Exploring the Lough: Creative Activities for the Primary School Classroom (2003) and Shore Lines (2004).

In 1997, he received the Sir James Kilfedder Memorial Bursary for Emerging Artists. In autumn 1999, as recipient of the US/Ireland Residency Exchange Bursary, he was Poet-in-Residence at Lenoir-Rhyne College where he received 'The Key to the City'. His first full poetry collection -- The Mason's Tongue (Abbey Press, 1999) -- was short-listed for the 2001 Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Literary Prize and was nominated for the 2001 Irish Times Prize for Poetry.

He is co-editor of a new anthology entitled A Conversation Piece: Poetry and Art (The Ulster Museum in association with Abbey Press, June 2002). His latest publications are The Tin God, a history of Cans Metal Box factory, Portadown which was recently short-listed for the 'Celebrating Our Local History' Competition by the Northern Ireland Publications Resource; and Insights (as editor), an anthology of poetry from The Dungannon Visually-Impaired Group which was recently awarded Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council's Achievement Award. He is currently working on There Was a Teacher, co-edited with Molly Rice, a book of creative writing and creative drama exercises for the classroom and a new book of poetry, The Moongate Sonnets, is forthcoming.

Club members will find Adrian Rice funny and accessible. We hope you can join us at the April 18 meeting.

March 14, 2006
7:00 PM
Great Aunt Stella Center

Amy Rogers

Amy Rogers is the Editor of Novello Festival Press and will discuss: Getting Published by Novello Festival Press: The Top 10 Things You Can Do Right--and Wrong

Award-winning writer and editor Amy Rogers is the author of the food books Hungry for Home: Stories of Food from Across the Carolinas, and Red Pepper Fudge and Blue Ribbon Biscuits. She is also a founder and Executive Editor of Novello Festival Press, the award-winning independent press that publishes literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from emerging and established writers across the Carolinas. In 2004, she was named a winner of the SELA President's Award, given by the Southeast Library Association, in recognition of the person outside the library profession who has done the most for libraries.

Rogers is a regular public radio commentator whose essays focus on food and culture. Her work was included in Cornbread Nation 1: The Best of Southern Food Writing and The North Carolina Century: Tar Heels Who Made a Difference, 1900-2000.

In 2002, she was the recipient of a Creative Artist Fellowship from the Arts and Science Council, and was the first person to receive the award for non-fiction writing. She has been Writer in Residence at the Wildacres Center and is an active member of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Her reporting for Creative Loafing, an alternative news-weekly, has won multiple awards from the N.C. Working Press Association. Rogers' work has appeared in numerous publications, including Oxford American magazine, which named as a Southern Bestseller her book titled Charlotte: Its Historic Neighborhoods, which she co-authored with her husband, the historian John Rogers. The book is now in its fifth printing.

Rogers is co-author of The Black America Series: Charlotte and Seasons of Charlotte. She was a contributing editor to the multi-media projects An African American Album, Vol. II, and The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story, both of which were sponsored by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. She is co-editor of the literary anthologies No Hiding Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Charlotte-Area Writers, and Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing, which was a finalist for a national Independent Publisher Book Award.

She has been a speaker at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee; the North Carolina Literary Festival, the South Carolina Book Festival, the Southern Voices Symposium, the Novello Festival of Reading, and the Central Piedmont Community College Literary Festival. Rogers has presented numerous educational and outreach programs in schools, colleges, arts centers, local and regional libraries, and the Mecklenburg County Jail.

In 2003, Rogers was elected to the board of directors of the Publishers' Association of the South. In 2005, she was named vice-president of that organization. Her additional volunteer activities include serving on committees for the Central Piedmont Community College Literary Festival and the North Carolina Writers' Network. She has also served on the board of directors for Skirt! Magazine, and the Second Ward High School National Alumni Foundation, a non-profit advocacy group that works to document the African-American history of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Amy Rogers is a native of Detroit, Michigan. She studied writing at Queens College and now makes her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She will be joining us at the March meeting to discuss “Getting Published by Novello Festival Press: The Top 10 Things You Can Do Right -- and Wrong.”

January 17, 2006 through February 22, 2006
Wednesdays 2:00 PM-4:00 PM
Christ Episcopal Church, 1412 Providence Road.

Margaret Bigger

“Recalling Memories for Your Family or the Public”

Annual Course for CWC

Do you know some of the Greatest Generation Grands, Baby Boomers or even Gen Xers who
need to be getting their memories on paper? Tell them about Margaret Bigger’s “Recalling Memories for Your Family or the Public” course.

This course is six two-hour sessions for just $60 and it is a fund-raiser for the Charlotte Writers’ Club.

The 2006 course begins January 18 and runs every Wednesday 2-4 p.m. until
February 22 at CWC member Margaret Bigger, the author of Recalling Your Memories on Paper, Tape or Videotape, has authored or edited 22 other titles.

The Charlotte Writers’ Club guest speaker in January is no, stranger to the club. He is a past president and former board member.

Tony Abbott was born in San Francisco and educated at the Fay School, Southborough, Mass., and at the Kent School in Connecticut. He received his A.B. from Princeton University, Magna cum laude, in 1957. With the support of a Danforth Fellowship he received his A.M. from Harvard University in 1960 and his Ph.D. in 1962.

From 1961 to 1964 he was Instructor in English at Bates College. In 1964 he became Assistant Professor of English at Davidson College in North Carolina. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1967 and Full Professor in 1979. In 1990 he was named Charles A. Dana Professor of English. He served as Chair of the Department from 1989 to 1996. He was honored for his teaching with the Thomas Jefferson Award in 1969 and the Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award in 1997.

His major fields of interest are modern drama, creative writing, and literature and religion. He has directed eight plays for the Davidson Community Players, including Inherit the Wind, The Miracle Worker and A Man for All Seasons. He is the author of two critical studies, Shaw and Christianity (1965) and The Vital Lie: Reality and Illusion in Modern Drama (1989). His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and journals including New England Review, Southern Poetry Review, St. Andrews Review, Pembroke, Tar River Poetry, Theology Today, and Anglican Theological Review. His first book of poems, The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat, was published by St. Andrews Press in 1989 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

His second poetry collection, A Small Thing Like A Breath, was published by St. Andrews Press in 1993, and his third, The Search for Wonder in the Cradle of the World in 2000. In 2003 his first novel, Leaving Maggie Hope, won the Novello Award and was published by Novello Festival Press. The novel won the “Gold Award” from ForeWord Magazine in the literary fiction category. With Professor Daniel Rhodes of the Department of Religion he developed a course in “American Literature and Religious Thought,” and after Dr. Rhodes’ retirement, he developed his own course, “Three Contemporary American Prophets: Flannery O’Connor, Frederick Buechner, and Walker Percy.” He has lectured widely on these three authors to both church and secular groups in North and South Carolina.

Aside from being a past president of the Charlotte Writers Club and the North Carolina Writers Network, he is also past Chairman of the North Carolina Writers Conference. He has won the Thomas H. McDill Award of the North Carolina Poetry Society three times. In 1978 he was a William Atherton Scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Between 1985 and 1992 he served on the Governor’s Committee on the North Carolina Awards. In 1996 he was honored by St. Andrews College with the Sam Ragan Award for his writing and his service to the literary community of North Carolina. Tony will be join us to read from and discuss his new book of poems, The Man Who.

Don’t let the hair fool you: S. Craig Renfroe, Jr. is a local boy. He grew up in Union County, attended Wingate University, earned an MFA at UNC-Wilmington and now teaches in the English Department at Queens University of Charlotte.

As a finalist in the 2003 Main Street Rag Short Fiction Contest, he was offered the opportunity to publish a collection of short stories and his first book, You Should Get That Looked At, was published in 2004. It’s a collection of quirky stories from a writer who some might say doesn’t quite have both feet planted firmly in the realm of reality.

His second book, also published by Main Street Rag, was a collection of poems that also flirted with reality, but brought us a little closer to Craig’s world. In Flirting with Ridicule, Craig invites us into the world of a single guy who’s out there looking for romance and exposing his emotional self in the process. It’s light and witty and challenges the reader to invest in the narrator’s lifestyle. In doing so, the narrator manages to twist a laugh out of readers even when things don’t quite work out the way he might like.

Club members might know S. Craig Renfroe, Jr. as the Vice President in charge of contests. He is also Associate Editor for Main Street Rag. His duties for the literary magazine include reading and selecting fiction as well as coordinating of the review section and writing some of the reviews. He is also one of our two local judges for the MSR Short Fiction Contest.

Craig’s has also written book reviews for The Charlotte Observer and his poetry and short fiction have been published in many regional and national publications. For the club’s February 21 meeting, Craig will read pieces from both of his books and discuss some of the thought processes that go into creating off-beat humor. He will also discuss and answer questions in regard to what he looks for as an editor reading short fiction, what publications are looking for in the way of freelance reviews and the process involved in writing a good, concise review.

S. Craig Renfroe, Jr.’s dry wit is always entertaining so I hope you can join us for the February meeting.

Amy Rogers is the Editor of Novello Festival Press and will discuss: Getting Published by Novello Festival Press: The Top 10 Things You Can Do Right -- and Wrong

Randell Jones, In the Footsteps of Davy Crockett (coming 3/2006) and In the
Footsteps of Daniel Boone.

The Charlotte Writers’ Club will hold its December meeting on a special day this year: Saturday, December 3 at noon in the renovated downstairs of the Great Aunt Stella Center. Traditionally, the club uses its December meeting to allow authors to sell their books. Saturday seemed like a good day for that and for the club to offer an open house of sorts with the goal of introducing the club to potential new members who have been unable to attend Tuesday night meetings.

In addition to the club’s book fair and open house, Mark DeCastrique will be our guest speaker and we will allow time for an open mike from 2-3pm. Those who sign up for the open mike can read poetry, short fiction, essays—whatever they bring—but the amount of microphone time participants are allotted may be limited by the number of participants. Those who plan to participate should limit their reading to less than five minutes or (in the case of poetry) no more than 3 poems—whichever comes first.

About the guest speaker…

Mark De Castrique is a North Carolina native, having been born in Henderson, NC. Mark went straight from the hospital to the funeral home where his father was the undertaker and the family lived upstairs. Although his father changed occupations and spared Mark the obligation of following in his footsteps, the “what if” of fiction provided the setting and business for Barry Clayton, former Charlotte police officer, mountain funeral director, and the protagonist for his mystery novels Dangerous Undertaking, Grave Undertaking, and Foolish Undertaking (due out in spring 2006).

Mark is a veteran of the broadcast and film production business. In Washington, he directed numerous news and public affairs programs, received an EMMY Award for his documentary film work and directed the local Washington pool feed from the White House the night Richard Nixon resigned. In addition to producing for his film and video clients, Mark is an adjunct professor at UNCC, teaching two courses – the history of the American Mystery and Literature & Culture.

He is on the board of the North Carolina Playwrights Alliance and his play A Dying Business, a comedy set in a funeral home, was presented at the New Plays in America Festival 2001 and the New Voices of the South Festival 2004 in Blowing Rock.

Mark will be joining us to read from discuss his books—including his teen thriller, A Conspiracy of Genes and well as his other writing experiences. He will also be available for a book signing afterward.

Mary Newsom of The Charlotte Observer will talk about writing and editing commentaries that will catch an editor’s attention.

For years now, the Charlotte Writers’ Club has invited various writers and editors from The Charlotte Observer to join us for an evening and share their perspectives on their own writing and what the newspaper is looking for from freelance writers. Last May, the club was entertained by sports columnist Tom Sorenson. In 2003, Sam Hodges—at the time, the new Book Section Editor—joined us for a panel discussion. And the list goes on.

November 15 the Charlotte Writers’ Club continues this tradition by featuring Mary Newsom as our guest speaker. Mary has been an associate editor at The Charlotte Observer for 10 years. She's a member of the paper's editorial board and writes some of the paper's unsigned editorials as well as a regular column on urban growth. She's been at The Observer sinc 1978 and has held a number of editing jobs, including state editor, national editor, front-page editor and projects/investigations editor.

Mary Newsom is an Arkansas native who grew up in Florida, suburban Chicago and Atlanta. She's a UNC Chapel Hill graduate, married to a fellow journalist and has a 13-year-old daughter at Smith Language Academy, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school. Recently, she was named a 2005-06 Fellow at the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami's School of Architecture.

Mary will join us to talk about finding the story, researching the story and what freelance writers can do to get the attention of an editor or editorial board and have their work published. We hope to see you on November 15.

Mark Young, Screen Writer
He will speak on the screen writing process, converting an idea to a production.

People on the go are like movie action figures—they rarely stand still long enough to pin them down for information. Such is the case with our featured guest for the Charlotte Writers’ Club’s October meeting. Mark Young was one of the names someone handed to me at the May 2005 meeting. The person who offered his name described him as a writer, director and filmmaker. All of which seemed to fit the criteria for what I wanted most to present to the club members on this year’s venue: new and different.

Mark is originally from New York. He was trained as a fine artist working in oils, but his interest in social commentary and narrative art led him to experimental film. In 1991, Mark wrote and directed his first feature film, The Architect, a Southern film noir shot in 16mm black & white film.

Mark then wrote eleven screenplays before deciding to produce his next project, “Dead Bodies” in 1995, a half-hour 35mm short film. Dead Bodies is a darkly comic, cautionary tale about addiction in cyberspace that shows what happens to a man who becomes too attached to his computer. Creative Loafing film critic Matt Brunson said, “This is regional filmmaking at its most uncompromising.” Dead Bodies has appeared in more than 80 film festivals internationally, and was purchased by Atom Films for internet and television distribution.

Mark is currently in pre-production on his latest film, Southern Gothic, which begins principal photography in January 2006. He will join us on October 18^th to talk about the nuts and bolts of screenplay writing, but he’s also going to talk about the art of adapting a screenplay to film. Rumor has it that a slideshow or a short film clips may be involved. Hope to see you there.

Mark Young will speak on the screen writing process, converting an idea to a production.

For September, the Charlotte Writers Club is pleased to welcome Ahmad Daniels, the founder and driving force behind Creative Interchange, a civic organization that is dedicated to facilitating dialogue among diverse groups within the Charlotte community. You don’t have to have spent much time in Charlotte to be familiar with Mr. Daniels. His name appears often in the local media for his work with African American cultural events among other community activities.

In December 2000, Community Pride Magazine selected him one of Charlotte’s 50 Most Influential Black Men. In July 2001, The Charlotte Observer editorial staff recognized Mr. Daniels as a “Hero of Democracy” for his role in the United Nations World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa. He is the recipient of the “SPIRIT OF LOUISVILLE” AWARD presented by the city of Louisville, Kentucky in appreciation for dedicated community service and has served as a facilitator for two of former Governor James B. Hunt’s North Carolina Initiative on Race Conferences.

In 2002, Ahmad Daniels facilitated workshops for those attending the African and African Descendants World Conference Against Racism held in Barbados and also chaired meetings of the Global Afrikan Congress in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, and Paris.

Mr. Daniels earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina and a Master of Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Among his other civic responsibilities, he is also the founder of Men to Men—Heart to Heart Forums the goal of which is to create an environment where “men are encouraged and self-compelled to engage in heartfelt conversations that lead to more meaningful relationships.”

So what brings Mr. Daniels to the Charlotte Writers Club? He will join us to discuss his new book, To Your Journey: Forty Clues to Self-Actualization for African American Males which was the recipient of the UBUS Afrikan Unity Award presented by Conquering Books at their 2005 Black Book Award event.

This book creates an interactive blueprint for life designed to help African American men become more familiar with their own lives through a series of forty “clues.” The goal of these clues is self-discovery by evoking a range of emotions in the reader that will help him be more honest with himself.

As a leader in the African American community and a member of the Islamic community, we can expect Mr. Daniels to also speak about the importance of dialogue between people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This should be an evening of enlightenment for most of us. Hope to see you at the Great Aunt Stella Center September 20.

Tom Sorenson is a columnist for the Charlotte Observer. He sill will speak on writing to fit deadlines and space constraints without sacrificing style and quality..

Keith Flynn, founder and managing editor of Ashville Poetry Review will be our guest at the Great Aunt Stella Center for the April 19 meeting of the Charlotte Writers’ Club. Aside from editing APR, he is the author of three collections of poetry: The Talking Drum (Metropolis Communications, 1991), The Book of Monsters (Urthona Press, 1994) and The Lost Sea (Iris Press, 2000). He is also the lead singer for the rock group, Crystal Zoo.

Mr. Flynn will be serving as the final judge for the 2005 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award, which is why his visit to Charlotte and the Charlotte Writers Club is co-sponsored by the Main Street Rag Publishing Company.

At the meeting, Mr. Flynn will read from of his poetry books and answer questions about poetry and the type of work he’s looking to publish in his magazine. Expect him to have much to say about delivery and the presentation of poetry. Those who have not witnessed a Keith Flynn reading are in for a special treat. His readings are performance driven and it is not unusual for him to launch into a cappella blues rendition of whatever poem he is reading.

Prior to the club’s monthly meeting, Mr. Flynn will lead a workshop from 3pm to 5 pm at the Great Aunt Stella Center in whatever meeting room is not under construction at the time. This workshop is not a free event and limited seating is available—since we’re not sure what room will be available. The cost is $20 for the afternoon workshop and seats can be reserved right up to the day of the event—as long as they are available. Those who would like to attend need to contact Main Street Rag directly at 704-573-2516 to reserve their place. Checks need to be made payable to them as well.

Several local poets also signed up for the opportunity to have their work critiqued by Mr. Flynn in advance of the workshop. He will provide them with written comments on their work at the workshop or, if they cannot make the workshop, at that evening’s club meeting.

The workshop itself, while broad based in its discussion of poetry in general, will spend a lot of time focusing on the quality of the sound. Because of his musical background, attendees can expect Mr. Flynn to talk about the lyrical nature of poetry and how important it is to choose the right words to create flow and resonance within a poem and how bad flow can change the way we perceive a poem.

This is a great opportunity for aspiring poets, practicing poets and lovers of poetry alike. If you can’t make the workshop during the day on April 19th, whatever you do, don’t miss his performance later in the evening at the monthly meeting.

At the February 15 meeting, the Charlotte Writers’ Club will welcome two distinguished attorneys from the law firm of Helms, Mulliss & Wicker to the Great Aunt Stella Center to speak and answer questions concerning copyright laws, author’s rights, media rights and how growing use of the internet may change the legal landscape. Jon Buchan and Corby Anderson have both worked both sides of this discussion having extensive experience in the area of media law as well as experience writing as reporters and editors.

Before attending law school and before she went to work for Helms, Mulliss & Wicker, Corby Anderson spent twelve years as a reporter, copy editor, managing editor, and assistant publisher for a Washington, DC-based legal publisher. After a clerkship on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Corby was appointed a special master to resolve discovery disputes in Boeing Co. v. United States, a major government contract case. Her practice focuses on commercial litigation and media law. She has represented business clients in trials and appeals involving contract disputes, business torts, trademark and copyright claims, and telecommunications law.

Corby has represented defendants in class action litigation over the administration of franchise advertising funds and the syndication of limited partnerships in the cable television industry. Her appellate experience covers North Carolina and other state courts as well as the Eleventh Circuit and the Fourth Circuit. Her work for media clients includes the defense of libel actions in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Ohio courts, as well as cases involving subpoenas to reporters and access to public records. She regularly counsels clients on intellectual property, advertising, and contract matters.

Jon Buchan grew up in Mullins, South Carolina and joined the firm of Helm, Mulliss, & Wicker in 1978. He handles a range of civil and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on media, business defamation, intellectual property and First Amendment issues. In his media practice, he is regularly involved in all aspects of the firm's representation of The Charlotte Observer, The Fayetteville Observer, WBTV-TV, American City Business Journals and other media clients. Jon has been the co-author of the North Carolina Section of the Media Defense Resource Center's Annual Survey on Media Libel Law since it began publication in 1982.

Jon has also worked as a political reporter and government editor for The Charlotte Observer and has experience in handling copyright, trademark, and trade secrets litigation. He has taught seminars on Mass Media and Communications law at Wake Forest University Law School. In 2000 Mr. Buchan was awarded the William C. Lassiter First Amendment Award given by the North Carolina Press Association. It was presented in recognition of his outstanding efforts advocating open government and the preservation of First Amendment rights. He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America, First Amendment section.

Clearly Jon Buchan and Corby Anderson are eminently qualified to lead a discussion and answer questions concerning copyright, author and media rights and how internet publication could affect these rights in the future. Club members and guests should come to the February meeting prepared to take notes and ask questions to help de-mystify the enigma of copyright laws.

Canadian Douglas Glover received his M.F.A. in fiction writing. He is the author of nine books of fiction, including Sixteen Categories of Desire and, in 2003, Elle (which won the 2003 Governor General’s Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). The Editor of Best Canadian Short Stories, he teaches in the low-residency M.F.A. program at Vermont College, where he serves as the Director of Faculty. In the spring of 2005, Douglas Glover will be in residence at Davidson; he will teach two fiction writing workshops, English 204 and English 304, and give a public reading on February 10, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the C. Shaw Smith 900 Room of the College Union.

Douglas Welton, Gloria King and Laura Aguirre: Featured Performers and Talkback

Welton produced and directed Collected Stories for Theatre Charlotte. Gloria King and Laura Aquirre will perform selections from the play.

The promotional material says, “SHERI LYNCH was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of a minor Mafia errand boy, so early on she learned the value of watching her back. When she was nine, her father moved the family to the wilds of Wyoming to pursue his dream of becoming a cowboy. When that didn’t pan out, they moved in with her grandmother in New Jersey, where her father went to prison for selling drugs while straight-laced Sheri finished Catholic school. Sheri went on to put herself through Temple University and graduated with honors.”

Promotional material is a very colorful way to package a celebrity, but when you get through the layer of controlled stuff, you find the real person underneath and in the case of Sheri Lynch, it’s a tough, honest, smart person who worked hard to become successful and works even harder to maintain her success.

Sheri Lynch will be the guest speaker at the Charlotte Writers Club meeting Tuesday November 16^th to discuss her book, her fascinating work and the process of writing and working in radio.

Author Judy Goldman will discuss her second novel, Early Leaving, published by William Morrow on October 1. Her first novel, The Slow Way Back, won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, the Mary Ruffin Poole Award for Best First Work of Fiction, and was a finalist for the Southeast Booksellers Association’s Best Novel of 2000. She is also the author of two books of poetry, Holding Back Winter and Wanting To Know the End. There will be an OPEN MIC after the program. Visitors welcome.

"Publishing That First Book:
A Panel with Robert Fulton, Donald Haack and Christa Blum Mercer"

For biographies on the three panelists, click on their names to the left (above the night lights of uptown Charlotte)

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Speaker and Event Archives

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Milestones and Recent Club Activities