Over a million people live in the greater Charlotte metro area. While pinpointing a single Charlotte identity can be slippery, each of these million-plus inhabitants has a story to tell.
This is the conceit that inspired Charlotte Lit to launch The Beautiful Truth initiative.
Earlier this year, Charlotte Lit, the non-profit arts center dedicated to celebrating the liteary arts, embarked on an ambitious community plan that recently culminated in the publication of Beautiful Truth, a digital magazine featuring twenty-eight community writers’ essays and poems.
It all began when Charlotte Lit co-founder Kathie Collins designed the multi-phase Beautiful Truth initiative. In January, Charlotte Lit offered twelve public writing workshops to help participants begin to tell their own stories. The workshops were held at Charlotte Mecklenburg library branches, facilitated by a team of twenty-four volunteer writers from curriculum written by Patrice Gopo, author of All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way (Thomas Nelson, 2018). More than 150 people attended these workshops, with about a third returning in February for two Charlotte Lit workshops on revision.
Finally, participants from the January workshops were invited to contribute to the Beautiful Truth digital magazine. Many of these stories were created from writing prompts.
Contributors include Gopo, Surabhi Kaushik, David E. Poston, Pam Turner, Florence West, Lisa Zerkle, and many more. The collection was edited by Tamela Rich, with a forward by Kathie Collins.
Read the magazine here. (Name and e-mail address required.)
Charlotte Lit was founded in 2016 by Kathie Collins and Paul Reali, who jointly serve as the organization’s executive director. The organization offers year-round programming, including workshops, critique groups, and special literary events.
For more information, visit www.charlottelit.org and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.