Members and Friends,Bookclub Meeting Tuesday, August 6th
July 28, 2019 by
Come and discuss Maggie Boylan by Michael Henson (Ohio University Press)
Tuesday, August 6th, 7:00pm
Panera Bread, 5940 Fairview Rd., Charlotte, NC
A selection from the 2018 National Reading Group Month’s Great Group Reads (list)
Set in Appalachian Ohio amid an epidemic of prescription opiate abuse, Michael Henson’s linked collection tells of a woman’s search for her own peculiar kind of redemption, and brings the novel-in-stories form to new heights. Maggie Boylan is an addict, thief, liar, and hustler. But she is also a woman of deep compassion and resilience. The stories follow Maggie as she spirals through her addictive process, through the court system and treatment, and into a shaky new beginning.
Come to our SPRING MEET THE AUTHORS EVENING, Monday, April 8, 7 PM !!
March 31, 2019 by
Spring Meet the Authors Evening
Monday, April 8, 2019
7:00 – 8:30 PM
Park Road Books
4139 Park Road (Park Road Shopping Center)
Charlotte, NC 28209
Save the date for our annual SPRING MEET THE AUTHORS EVENING featuring three outstanding authors.
Jacqui Castle, THE SECLUSION, Inkshares
Mesha Maren, SUGAR RUN, Algonquin
A SIBA Okra Pick
Snowden Wright, AMERICAN POP, William Morrow
A SIBA Okra Pick
Jacqui Castle is a local author and freelance writer living in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville. Castle has been an active voice in the community for several years, having contributed to a variety of local publications, including Mountain Xpress, WNC Woman, Asheville Grit, and Explore Asheville. Castle is also an associate producer on Asheville FM 103.3 WordPlay Radio, which airs each Sunday at 3pm. Her dystopian science-fiction novel, The Seclusion, was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Sci-Fi Book of September 2018, and was called a “must-have for all libraries and fans of ¬sci-fi ” by School Library Journal.
Mesha Maren’s short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, Hobart, The Barcelona Review, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial and other literary journals. She was chosen by Lee Smith as winner of the 2015 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and is the recipient of a 2014 Elizabeth George Foundation Grant, an Appalachian Writing Fellowship from Lincoln Memorial University, and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She is the 2018-2019 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also serves as a National Endowment of the Arts Writing Fellow at the Beckley Federal Correctional Institution.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Snowden Wright has a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.F.A. from Columbia University. He has written for The Atlantic, Salon, Esquire, The Millions, and the New York Daily News, among other publications, and previously worked as a fiction reader for The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Paris Review. His small press debut, Play Pretty Blues, was the recipient of the 2012 Summer Literary Seminar’s Graywolf Prize. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Our special guests will join us for an evening of conversation and refreshments. Each author will speak briefly about her or his book, and there will be plenty of opportunity for one-on-one questions and discussion. Park Road Books will sell books. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet these writers and get signed copies of their new books! Author details will be provided in early 2019.
WNBA members and friends, book clubs and reading groups,
and all avid readers are welcome!
RT #books #authors #charlotte #northcarolina
Download a copy of our Spring 2019 Meet the Authors flyer 032919 here.
Questions? Please contact Susan Walker at susan.walker.books@gmail.com or 612-382-5868.
Join us at the next Great Group Reads Bookclub meeting! April 2 at 7pm!
March 28, 2019 by
Come out and discuss A Vain Conversation by Anthony Grooms (U. of South Carolina Press).
From the publisher’s website summary: Inspired by true events, The Vain Conversation reflects on the 1946 lynching of two black couples in Georgia from the perspectives of three characters—Bertrand Johnson, one of the victims; Noland Jacks, a presumed perpetrator; and Lonnie Henson, a witness to the murders as a ten-year-old boy. Lonnie’s inexplicable feelings of culpability drive him in a search for meaning that takes him around the world and ultimately back to Georgia, where he must confront Jacks and his own demons, with the hopes that doing so will free him from the grip of the past.
In The Vain Conversation, Anthony Grooms seeks to advance the national dialogue on race relations. With complexity, satire, and sometimes levity, he explores what it means to redeem, as well as to be redeemed, when dealing with America’s race violence, and he speaks to the broader issues of oppression and violence everywhere.
Tuesday, April 2nd, 7:00-8:00pm
Panera Bread, 5940 Fairview Rd., Charlotte, NC
A selection from the 2018 National Reading Group Month’s Great Group Reads (list)
*Then, join us again Tuesday, May 7, as we discuss The Widows of Malabar Hill (Soho Press). Same time, same location.
Join us at the next Great Group Reads Book Club meeting — Tuesday, March 5, at 7 PM!
February 26, 2019 by
Come out and discuss The Lido by Libby Page (Simon & Schuster, Inc.)
From the publisher’s website summary: Rosemary Peterson has lived in Brixton, London, all her life but everything is changing. The library where she used to work has closed. The family grocery store has become a trendy bar. And now the lido, an outdoor pool where she’s swum daily since its opening, is threatened with closure by a local housing developer. It was at the lido that Rosemary escaped the devastation of World War II; here she fell in love with her husband, George; here she found community during her marriage and since George’s death.
Twentysomething Kate Matthews has moved to Brixton and feels desperately alone. A once promising writer, she now covers forgettable stories for her local paper. That is, until she’s assigned to write about the lido’s closing. Soon Kate’s portrait of the pool focuses on a singular woman: Rosemary. And as Rosemary slowly opens up to Kate, both women are nourished and transformed in ways they never thought possible.
In the tradition of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, The Lido is a charming, feel-good novel that captures the heart and spirit of a community across generations—an irresistible tale of love, loss, aging, and friendship.
Tuesday, March 5th, 7:00-8:00pm
Panera Bread, 5940 Fairview Rd., Charlotte, NC
A selection from the 2018 National Reading Group Month’s Great Group Reads (list)
Then, join us again on April 2nd, as we discuss A Vain Conversation by Anthony Grooms (U. of South Carolina Press). Same time & Location.
Join us at our Self-Publishing Panel Discussion! Tuesday, November 13, 5:30 PM
November 6, 2018 by
Self-Publishing Panel — FREE! 
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
5:30-7:30 PM
Morrison Branch
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
7015 Morrison Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28211
Back by popular demand!
The Queen City’s Literary Scene is thriving! Authors today get published with major houses and small presses, while many have ventured out on their own, selling their craft as well as creating it. It’s a challenge, but possible!
WNBA Charlotte member and editor of Ayers Edits Nicole Ayers will be facilitating an all-star panel with successful self-published authors Catherine Goodman Farley, Kim Love Stump, Bridgett Bell Langson, and Lisa Otter Rose. They’ll be providing tips and tricks and lessons learned! All authors do have a background in writing and publishing in children’s and young adult writing and will provide excellent insight into that, but the event will answer all questions related to the self-publishing journey. Full bios are listed below.
If you plan to attend, please register here! This event is FREE, but we need to know how many people will be joining us. Thanks!
In February 2018, Bridgett Bell Langson published her first book, Finding Home, My Arf-O-Biography, through CreateSpace, but using her own business name, Tale Wag Press. Finding Home was written, revised, and edited innumerable times. Most of this book was based on true stories of her rescued puppy.
Before working as a writer, Bridgett taught children in public schools in North Carolina in both special education resource and elementary classrooms. After several years of teaching, she applied and was selected to participate in the UNC Charlotte Writing Project for teachers. Following this, she continued as a classroom teacher, and also trained other teachers in methods of writing instruction for their students. Bridgett is a member of WNBA, SCBWI, NCWN, and Charlotte Writers’ Club.
Catherine Goodman Farley is a local children’s book author who has independently published two books in her Explore with Mimi series. Mischievous Mimi Explores Seabrook Island (2014) and Mimi Discovers Sullivan’s Island (2017) are adventure stories which share lessons in history, conservation, and faith with children and their families. Her third book in the series is planned for release next spring. Each of her books are co-authored by special children in her life.
As a practicing physical therapist, Catherine enjoys connecting with people, sharing experiences, and all things creative and coastal. Becoming an author has been a serendipitous journey in which she feels quite grateful to experience. She believes that EVERYONE has a beautiful and unique story that can be shared in some fashion to relate to others. Catherine resides in Charlotte with her husband, Trey and three children, Madeline, Mary Catherine, and James. Her website is explorewithmimi.com.
Kim Love Stump has loved to read and write ever since she can remember. While fiction is her first writing love, she has written everything from equity recommendations for a bank trust department to Bible studies. She is also a frequent writer of memoir. Whether a snippet of real life or an intricate fantasyland, Kim loves world-building through words. She shares the real-life world she has created in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband of thirty-plus years.
Kim is the author of A Clearing in the Forest, the first book in the Journeys from Ayrden series, published in 2016. Her personal essay Sounds of Love and Life was published the same year in the book Here in the Middle, edited by Christine Organ and Julie Jo Severson. Izzy Goes to Camp, a multi-plot chapter book published by Zoozil Media, is anticipated to be released in 2019. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the North Carolina Writers’ Network and the Women’s National Book Association – Charlotte Chapter. Find her online at www.kimlovestump.com.
Lisa Otter Rose is a writer, visual journalist, and award-winning author. She appreciates how creativity, determination, and courage play key roles in every child’s development. Like Jamie, the ten-year-old protagonist in her novel, You’ve Got Verve, Jamie Ireland!, Lisa’s now grown children all suffered from undiagnosed learning disabilities. She experienced firsthand the frustration that those undiagnosed learning disorders brought to her children’s early years, and then the relief that the proper diagnosis and intervention offered. Lisa, who has always loved books and knows the power of story, has crafted a funny and realistic character, Jamie Ireland, who defies any label. Lisa lives in North Carolina with her husband, Gary, and Monk-Monk, the sock monkey, a cat, three dogs, and eight chickens. Please visit her on Instagram @LisaOtterRose.
BIBLIOFEAST 2018 is Monday, October 15! Mark your calendars and buy your tickets online today!
August 22, 2018 by
BIBLIOFEAST 2018
A Literary “Movable Feast”
WNBA Charlotte’s 9th Annual
Book & Author Dinner
Celebrating the 11th Anniversary of
National Reading Group Month
TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE NOW!
Printed tickets available at Park Road Books
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ONLINE TODAY!
Ticket deadline extended to October 12 – must be purchased in advance!
______________
WHEN: Monday evening, October 15, 2018 / 6:00-9:00 PM
WHERE: Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant, SouthPark Mall, Charlotte
WHAT: A “movable feast” dinner featuring 8 outstanding authors
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Open to both WNBA members and the public
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Book clubs invited and encouraged to attend as groups. If you come with your book club members, we’ll reserve a table for you!
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Anticipated attendance 70+ people
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Ticketed fundraiser event for WNBA Charlotte, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
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Tickets $60/person. BACK AGAIN THIS YEAR! If you’re a current 2018-2019 WNBA member, you can earn a $10 rebate on your own ticket for each prospective member/guest you bring to Bibliofeast! For example, bring 2 guests who purchase tickets and earn $20 in rebates on your own ticket! Bring 6 paying guests and earn $60 in rebates – your own ticket for free! (This rebate offer is subject to approval by WNBA Charlotte’s Treasurer before rebates are issued. Rebates will be paid at or after the event.)
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Tickets are now available online (credit cards via PayPal). Deadline to purchase tickets is Friday, October 12.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR ONLINE TICKETS ORDER FORM. -
Tickets also may be purchased at Park Road Books (check or cash only) starting September 4.
-
Tickets must be purchased in advance — deadline extended to October 12!
-
Books by participating authors will be sold at the event by Park Road Books, Charlotte.
This coming October, the Charlotte Chapter of WNBA will sponsor our 9thannual BIBLIOFEAST Book & Author Dinner in celebration of WNBA’s National Reading Group Month. Our very successful 2017 BIBLIOFEAST highlighted 8 authors and was attended by 60+ people. This year we’re including 8 authors and 60-70 attendees.
We’re delighted to welcome our eight featured authors for 2018:
JT Ellison, TEAR ME APART, Mira/HarperCollins
Donna Everhart, THE ROAD TO BITTERSWEET, Kensington
Sue Halpern, SUMMER HOURS AT THE ROBBERS’ LIBRARY, Harper Perennial
Webb Hubbell, THE EIGHTEENTH GREEN, Beaufort Books
Pam Kelley, MONEY ROCK: A FAMILY’S STORY OF COCAINE, RACE, AND AMBITION IN THE NEW SOUTH, The New Press
Elaine Neil Orr, SWIMMING BETWEEN WORLDS, Berkley/PRH
Kathryn Schwille, WHAT LUCK, THIS LIFE, Hub City Press
Lee Zacharias, ACROSS THE GREAT LAKE, University of Wisconsin Press
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NEW THIS YEAR! Sponsor an Author – For $30 you can sponsor one of our featured guest authors. Benefits include —
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Escorting the author during the cocktail hour
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Key seating right next to this author at your dinner table, plus this seat next to 5 other authors who will visit your table during the “moveable feast” author rotations which are the highlight of this dinner.
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Email us at wnbacharlotte@gmail.com to let us know that you want to participate and which author(s) you prefer to sponsor.
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10% off your sponsored author’s book (WNBA Charlotte will cover this discount with Park Road Books.)
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Send cash or check with your information to WNBA Charlotte Chapter, c/o Sally Brewster, Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28209, or come out and pay at our Fall Kickoff and Networking event on September 11!
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PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! Invite your friends, fellow book club members, and colleagues.
PLEASE SHARE THIS BIBLIOFEAST FLYER ONLINE!! And print it out and post it for others to see, too. THANKS!
Check out this other members’ opportunity at Bibliofeast, too:
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Members’ Promotional Table – Members can display their business services and publications for a $10 flat fee. There will be a members services table that all attendees, including authors, will be able to view. Get your name out there!
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Email us at wnbacharlotte@gmail.com to let us know that you want to participate and what your service or publication will be. Send cash or check with your information to WNBA Charlotte Chapter, c/o Sally Brewster, Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28209, or come out and pay at our Fall Kickoff and Networking event on September 11!
BIBLIOFEAST QUESTIONS? Please contact Susan Walker, National Reading Group Month Events Manager, susan.walker.books@gmail.com, 612-382-5868. Thank you!
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Come to our SPRING MEET THE AUTHORS EVENING! Monday, April 9, 7 PM
March 26, 2018 by
Spring Meet the Authors Evening 
Monday, April 9, 2018
7:00 – 8:30 PM
Park Road Books
4139 Park Road (Park Road Shopping Center)
Charlotte, NC 28209
Save the date for our annual SPRING MEET THE AUTHORS EVENING featuring five prominent authors. Our special guests will join us for an evening of conversation and refreshments. Each author will speak briefly about her or his book, and there will be plenty of opportunity for one-on-one questions and discussion. Park Road Books will sell books. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet these five writers and get signed copies of their new books!
WNBA members and friends, book clubs and reading groups,
and all avid readers are welcome!
Our outstanding guest authors include:
-
Charlotte, North Carolina writer Kimmery Martin, THE QUEEN OF HEARTS, Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Random House. Martin is also a physician.
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Alan Michael Parker, CHRISTMAS IN JULY, Dzanc Books. Parker is the Douglas C. Houchens Professor of English at Davidson College.
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Mark Powell, SMALL TREASONS, Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster. Powell teaches at Appalachian State University in Boone.
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Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff, RED HOT MAMA: THE LIFE OF SOPHIE TUCKER, University of Texas Press. Sklaroff is an associate professor of history at the University of South Carolina.
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Michele Young-Stone, LOST IN THE BEEHIVE, Simon & Schuster. Novelist Stone lives on the Outer Banks.
RT #books #authors #charlotte #northcarolina
Download a copy of our event flyer here.
Questions? Please contact Susan Walker at susan.walker.books@gmail.com or 612-382-5868.
BIBLIOFEAST 2017 is Monday, October 16! Save the date!!
October 9, 2017 by
BIBLIOFEAST 2017
A Literary “Moveable Feast”
WNBA Charlotte’s 8th Annual
Book & Author Dinner
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of
National Reading Group Month
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ONLINE TODAY!
Ticket deadline EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 12 – must be purchased in advance!
WHEN: Monday evening, October 16, 2017 / 6:00-9:00 PM
WHERE: Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant
SouthPark Mall, Charlotte
WHAT: A “moveable feast” dinner featuring 8 outstanding authors
-
Open to both WNBA members and the public
-
Book clubs invited and encouraged to attend as groups. If you come with your book club members, we’ll reserve a table for you!
-
Anticipated attendance 70+ people
-
Ticketed fundraiser event for WNBA Charlotte and local book-related charitable organizations
-
Tickets $60/person. NEW THIS YEAR! If you’re a current 2017-2018 WNBA member, you can earn a $10 rebate on your own ticket for each prospective member/guest you bring to Bibliofeast! For example, bring 2 guests, earn $20 in rebates! (This rebate offer is subject to approval by WNBA Charlotte’s Treasurer before rebates are issued. Rebates will be paid at or after the event.)
-
Tickets are now available online (credit cards via PayPal).
CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR ONLINE TICKETS ORDER FORM. -
Tickets also may be purchased at Park Road Books (check or cash only) starting September 1.
-
Tickets must be purchased in advance — DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 12!
-
Books for this event will be purchased from publishers and sold at the event by Park Road Books, Charlotte
This coming October, the Charlotte Chapter of WNBA will sponsor our 8thannual BIBLIOFEAST book and author dinner in celebration of WNBA’s National Reading Group Month. Our very successful 2016 BIBLIOFEAST highlighted 10 authors and was attended by 60+ people. This year we’re including 8 authors and 60-70 attendees.
We’re delighted to welcome our eight featured authors for 2017:
Jodi Lynn Anderson, MIDNIGHT AT THE ELECTRIC, HarperCollins
Sarah Creech, THE WHOLE WAY HOME, William Morrow
Sebastian Matthews, BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO A HEAD-ON COLLISION, Red Hen Press
Bren McClain, ONE GOOD MAMA BONE,
Story River Books/The University of South Carolina Press
Jim Minick, FIRE IS YOUR WATER, Ohio University Press
Michel Stone, BORDER CHILD, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday
Caitlin Hamilton Summie, TO LAY TO REST OUR GHOSTS, Fomite
Leah Weiss, IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE, Sourcebooks
____________
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! Invite your friends, fellow book club members, and colleagues.
PLEASE SHARE THIS BIBLIOFEAST FLYER ONLINE!! And print it out and post it for others to see, too. THANKS!
QUESTIONS? Please contact Susan Walker, National Reading Group Month Events Manager, susan.walker.books@gmail.com, 612-382-5868. Thank you!
______________
Come to the next Great Group Reads Book Club meeting — Tuesday, September 5, at 7 PM!
August 29, 2017 by
WNBA-Charlotte’s Book Club, featuring Great Group Reads picks from National Reading Group Month
We have a terrific book club
in our chapter!
As our reading guide, we use the list of Great Group Reads titles recommended for book clubs during WNBA’s National Reading Group Month. Starting in November 2016, we’re reading books from the current 2016 Great Group Reads list. See below!
Our book for our September 5 meeting is….
THE TSAR OF LOVE AND TECHNO: STORIES
by Anthony Marra
Hogarth, Trade Paperback
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena—dazzling, poignant, and lyrical interwoven stories about family, sacrifice, the legacy of war, and the redemptive power of art.
This stunning, exquisitely written collection introduces a cast of remarkable characters whose lives intersect in ways both life-affirming and heartbreaking. A 1930s Soviet censor painstakingly corrects offending photographs, deep underneath Leningrad, bewitched by the image of a disgraced prima ballerina. A chorus of women recount their stories and those of their grandmothers, former gulag prisoners who settled their Siberian mining town. Two pairs of brothers share a fierce, protective love. Young men across the former USSR face violence at home and in the military. And great sacrifices are made in the name of an oil landscape unremarkable except for the almost incomprehensibly peaceful past it depicts. In stunning prose, with rich character portraits and a sense of history reverberating into the present, The Tsar of Love and Techno is a captivating work from one of our greatest n
ew talents.
ANTHONY MARRA is the winner of a Whiting Award, Pushcart Prize, and the Narrative Prize. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena won the 2014 National Book Critics Circle’s inaugural John Leonard Prize and the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in fiction, as well as the inaugural 2014 Carla Furstenberg Cohen Fiction Award. Marra’s novel was a National Book Award long list selection as well as a shortlist selection for the Flaherty-Dunnan first novel prize. In addition, his work has been anthologized in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012. He received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, where he teaches as the Jones Lecturer in Fiction. He has lived and studied in Eastern Europe, and now resides in Oakland, CA.
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Our meetings take place on the first Tuesday of each month, 7 PM, at the Panera on Fairview near SouthPark — see dates below. We have chosen books to take us through to next October when there will be a new Great Group Reads list released. If you have questions about our Book Club, please contact Kristen Knox at whitreidsmama
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