Program areas at Charlotte Lit
LABS. Charlotte Lit's labs are year-long immersions that combine classes, coaching, and a supportive cohort community. Authors Lab is for writers working on a novel or memoir. Chapbook Lab is for poets building a collection. Publishing Lab is for past Authors Lab writers who are working to get their books and other writing published. Writers in each cohort attend craft classes as a group, receive individual coaching and feedback on their writing, and experience extensive support from their peer group. Authors Lab had 22 writers in the 2024 cohort; Chapbook Lab had 10; Publishing Lab had 12 in its inaugural year. All Lab programs are fee-based with scholarships available.
PUBLISHING. Charlotte Lit Press, the publishing imprint of Charlotte Lit, held the third Lit/South Awards, for writers who reside or once resided in North Carolina and its four contiguous states: South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. In 2024, awards were given in three categories: poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. 300 entries were received, and $6,000 in prizes were awarded. Winners in each category, plus all poetry finalists and semi-finalists, were published in the Spring 2024 issue of "Litmosphere: Journal of Charlotte Lit." Charlotte Lit Press also publishes poetry collections: in 2024, two chapbooks by local writers and a full collection by poet AE Hines. In the fall of 2024, the Litmosphere journal was re-visioned as a semi-annual, open-submission, online only, paying publication.
CLASSES. Charlotte Lit provides more than 100 classes per year, half of them free. Three-quarters are targeted to writers who wish to improve their craft or learn about the business side of being a writer, with another quarter targeted to anyone who appreciates literature or wants to explore their world through literature. Weekly, Charlotte Lit offers a free writing session called Pen to Paper, which draws more than 1000 people annually, mostly from the Charlotte region but also nationwide.
OTHER. Charlotte Lit hosts a variety of literary arts programming, most of it free and open to the public. These include Community Conversations, poetry readings, and social events. Program expenses in this category include direct expenses for the category, plus general expenses that cannot be attributed directly to one of the other listed programs.