Faculty

• 

  John Amen

  John Amen is the author of five collections of poetry, including Illusion of an Overwhelm, finalist for the 2018 Brockman-Campbell Award, and work from which was chosen as a finalist for the 2018 Dana Award. He was the recipient of the 2021 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize. His poems and prose have appeared recently in Rattle, Prairie Schooner, American Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Los Angeles Review, and his poetry has been translated into Spanish, French, Hungarian, Korean, and Hebrew. He founded and is managing editor of Pedestal Magazine. His new collection, Dark Souvenirs, will be released by New York Quarterly Books in 2024. 

• 

  Sarah Archer

  Sarah Archer’s debut novel, The Plus One, was published by Putnam, has been translated into multiple languages, and is in development for television. As a screenwriter, she has developed material for MTV Entertainment, Snapchat, and Comedy Central and been recognized by the Black List organization, the Motion Picture Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, and the Tracking Board’s Launch Pad. She has been a co-host of Charlotte Readers Podcast since June 2022 and wrote forwards for seven of the eight books in The Write Quotes series, books that draw on quotes from the first four years of the podcast. To learn more about Sarah, check out: www.saraharcherwrites.com and www.charlottereaderspodcast.com 

• 

  Amber Wheeler Bacon

  Amber Wheeler Bacon is a writer and teacher whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Crazyhorse, Ecotone, Epiphany, Five Points, New Ohio Review, Post Road, Prairie Schooner and Witness, and online at Ploughshares and CRAFT. She’s the recipient of the Breakout Writers Prize from The Author’s Guild, a Bread Loaf scholarship, and the Lit/South Award for flash fiction. In 2020, her story collection was a finalist for Hub City Press’s C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize and Moon City Press’s Short Fiction Award. She has an MFA from Bennington College and teaches English at Coastal Carolina University. She’s been a staff reader for Ploughshares, a fiction editor at Four Way Review, and a daily editor at the Southern Review of Books. She lives by the beach in South Carolina. 

• 

  Amy Bishop-Wycisk

  Amy Bishop-Wycisk (why-zick) joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2015 after interning for them in 2014. At DG&B, she’s cultivating a wide-ranging list in upmarket and book club fiction, expert-driven narrative nonfiction, and select YA, with a special interest in BIPOC and AAPI voices. Her list includes titles such as The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim (a Reese’s Book Club selection and NYT bestseller), The Red Palace by Edgar Award-winning author June Hur, and Girly Drinks by Mallory O’Meara (a James Beard Award winner). Before diving into the world of publishing, she graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a degree in Creative Writing. Though she grew up upstate, she currently resides in Woodside, Queens. You can find her on Twitter at @amylizbishop. 

  • 
• 

  Jamie Chambliss

  Jamie Chambliss is an agent with Folio Literary Management. Her clients include Lara Prescott, Lauren Hough, Tom Vitale, and Rachel Rodgers. Prior to joining Folio, she was with Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, working on both fiction and nonfiction and in editorial and marketing. She’s drawn to literary and book club fiction, and narrative nonfiction, especially dealing with food, pop culture, the quirks of human nature, the stories within the worlds of science and sports, and the forgotten corners of history. Prior to book publishing, she was a magazine journalist, covering, among other things, books, the arts, and sports narratives. She’s a graduate of Wake Forest University and has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

• 

  Bryn Chancellor

  Bryn Chancellor is the author of the novel Sycamore, a Southwest Book of the Year, an Amazon Editors’ Best Book of 2017, and among Bustle’s Best Debuts of 2017; and of the story collection When Are You Coming Home?, winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Southern Review, Ecotone, Cimarron Review, Colorado Review, and elsewhere. Awards include fellowships from the Arizona, Alabama, and North Carolina arts councils; residencies at Hambidge and Jentel; scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee writers conferences; and the Poets and Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award in fiction. She is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. www.brynchancellor.com 

• 

  Morri Creech

  Morri Creech is the author of four collections of poetry, the most recent of which are The Sleep of Reason (Waywiser 2013), a finalist for Pulitzer Prize, and Blue Rooms (Waywiser 2018). His fifth book, The Sentence, is forthcoming from LSU Press in September of 2023. A recipient of NEA and Ruth Lilly Fellowships, as well as grants from the North Carolina and Louisiana Arts councils, he is the Writer in Residence at Queens University of Charlotte. 

• 

  Tracy Crow

  Tracy Crow is a literary agent and president/CEO of MilSpeak Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated toward supporting and publishing the creative works of military veterans and family members through its imprints, MilSpeak Books and Family of Light Books. She is also the author/editor of six books to include the novella, Cooper’s Hawk: The Remembering; the popular history, It’s My Country Too: Women’s Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan with co-author Jerri Bell; the award-winning memoir, Eyes Right: Confessions from a Woman Marine; and the breakthrough writing text, On Point: A Guide to Writing the Military Story. A former assistant professor of journalism and creative writing, today Tracy leads professional development seminars for MFA candidates at Queens University of Charlotte.   

• 

  Julie Funderburk

  Julie Funderburk is the author of the poetry collection The Door That Always Opens from LSU Press, which received a Brockman-Campbell Book Award Honorable Mention, and the chapbook Thoughts to Fold into Birds from Unicorn Press. She has received fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the North Carolina Arts Council, and her poetry appears in The Southern Review, Ecotone, Pleiades, Hayden’s Ferry Review,The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the NCWN and teaches at Queens University of Charlotte. 

• 

  Angelo Geter

  Angelo Geter is an award-winning poet, educator, author and performance artist based in Rock Hill, SC.  Known in the spoken word world as “EyeAmBic”, Geter’s work touches on a variety of issues including social justice, race, grief, character, and manhood.  Over the course of his career Geter has amassed several accolades and recognitions.  He currently serves as the Poet Laureate of Rock Hill, SC, and is a 2020 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Geter is a 2018 National Poetry Slam champion, Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam finalist, and Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam finalist  He is also the Founder and Director of One Word Poetry Festival; a five-day celebration of poetry with readings, open mics, competitions and performances. His work has appeared on All Def Poetry, Charleston Currents, Gratefulness.com, and the Academy of American Poets “Poem a Day” series. His debut collection More God Than Dead was released in June 2022.   

• 

  Patrice Gopo

  Patrice Gopo writes stories steeped in themes of place, belonging, and home. She is the author of two essay collections: Autumn Song (University of Nebraska Press American Lives Series) and All the Colors We Will See (a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection). Her debut picture book, All the Places We Call Home, is based on one of her essays. In addition to other honors, she is the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship and a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award. Patrice lives with her family in Charlotte. Please visit patricegopo.com to learn more. 

• 

  Aaron Gwyn

  Aaron Gwyn is the author of a story collection, Dog on the Cross (Algonquin Books, 2004), and three novels: The World Beneath (W.W. Norton, 2009), Wynne’s War (Mariner Books, 2014), and All God’s Children (Europa Editions, 2020). His short stories have appeared in Esquire, McSweeney’s, Glimmer Train, Missouri Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Gettysburg Review, and the anthologies New Stories from the South and Best of the West. He is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where he teaches fiction writing and contemporary American fiction. 

• 

  AE Hines

  AE Hines is the author of Any Dumb Animal (Main Street Rag, 2021). His poems and reviews have been widely published in anthologies and literary journals, including more recently: Rattle, Alaska Quarterly, The Southern Review, Rhino, American Poetry Review, and The Sun. He is a recent winner of the Red Wheelbarrow Prize and Palette Poetry’s Love and Eros Prize, and has been a finalist for the Montreal International Poetry Prize. He resides in Charlotte and Medellín, Colombia. More information at www.aehines.net. 

• 

  Brittany Danielle Hunt

  Dr. Brittany Danielle Hunt is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and an Assistant Professor of Education at Virginia Tech.  She is a graduate of Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, and UNC Charlotte.  She is the author of the children’s book Whoz Ya People? and the co-host of the podcast The Red Justice Project.  Her research centers the experiences of Indigenous peoples in the education system. 

• 

  Kathy Izard

  Kathy Izard is the author of two adult nonfiction books, The Hundred Story Home and The Last Ordinary Hour, as well as an illustrated children’s book titled, A Good Night for Mr. Coleman. Kathy has published four books three ways and has two new books coming out in 2024—one that will be traditionally published and one that will be indie published. As a certified book coach, Kathy loves helping writers get their words in the world. Learn more about her books https://www.kathyizard.com and her book coaching, workshops and retreats https://www.womenfaithstory.com 

• 

  Hannah Larrew

  Hannah Larrew is the founder of Spellbound PR, a boutique publicity and digital marketing firm for artists across the creative spectrum, including award-winning authors, musicians, fine artists, and independent filmmakers. She has served as an editor, public relations specialist, and marketer for both editorial firms and media outlets, including Pulitzer Prize–winning newspaper, The Post & Courier. She has been a co-host of Charlotte Readers Podcast since June 2022 and wrote the forward for book 8 in The Write Quotes series, titled Publishing and Book Marketing, a book that draws on quotes from the first four years of the podcast. To learn more about Hannah, check out: www.spellboundpublicrelations.com and www.charlottereaderspodcast.com 

• 

  Misha Lazzara

  Misha Lazzara is the author of Manmade Constellations. Her poetry has appeared on poets.org, in October Hill Magazine, Amethyst Review, and more. She received her MA in English from UNC Charlotte and her MFA in fiction writing from NC State University. Lazzara teaches courses in fiction writing at UNC Charlotte and will be teaching an online course for Charlotte Lit this coming January.  

• 

  Kristina Sutton Lennon

  Kristina Sutton Lennon is a bilingual, Latiné media executive and the CEO/Co-Founder of Focused Artists. In her work as a literary agent and also as a Manager for Focused Artists, she has facilitated book deals with publishers for clients; pitched content to producers, studios and networks; and has projects in various stages of development with production companies. She prides herself on her diverse slate of content and has a proven track record in sourcing material, script development, and talent scouting. She previously served as a film/tv agent and the Director of the Louisiana Division for a talent agency headquartered in Atlanta. Kristina recently served as the Director of Media Rights at Context Literary Agency and currently serves as a Talent Manager for Citizen Skull. In 2022, Publishers Weekly named her a Star Watch Honoree. Kristina earned her MFA in Acting from Louisiana State University. She is a proud member of NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) and the Oklahoma Motion Picture Alliance.  

• 

  Kimmery Martin

  Kimmery Martin is an emergency medicine doctor-turned novelist whose works of medical fiction have been praised by The Harvard Crimson, People magazine, Newsweek, and The New York Times, among others. A lifelong literary nerd, she interviews authors, teaches writing seminars, and speaks frequently at libraries, conferences, medical schools, and bookstores around the United States. Kimmery completed her medical training at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She lives with her husband and three children in Charlotte, where she serves on the Board of Trustees of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and teaches Narrative Medicine courses at the local medical school and in the medical community. 

• 

  Rebecca McClanahan

  Rebecca McClanahan’s eleventh book, In the Key of New York City: A Memoir in Essays, was published in 2020. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, Kenyon Review, Boulevard, The Sun, and in anthologies published by Simon & Schuster, Beacon, Norton, and Bedford/St. Martin, among others. Recipient of two Pushcart prizes, the Glasgow Award in Nonfiction, the Wood Prize from Poetry Magazine, the Carter Prize for the Essay, a Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education, and four fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, McClanahan teaches in the MFA programs of Rainier Writing Workshop and Queens University.  

   

• 

  Jennifer Moxley

  25-year communications veteran Jennifer Moxley started her career in newspaper, worked in television news, and took the leap into entrepreneurship in 2012. She’s been a videographer for the New York Giants, sat behind a camera in Maya Angelou’s formal room, and today produces interviews with television stars from HBO, Hulu, and Disney. She’s been up close and personal to countless people, from all walks of life, doing interviews and telling their stories. Jennifer was a teen mom who is enjoying her 40s as an empty nester devoted to her business. Sunshine Media Network uplifts and amplifies women and underrepresented experts and entrepreneurs. She’s helped clients get TedX Talks, be featured in national publications, navigate tricky media exposure, and scale their business through media exposure. Her middle name is actually Sunshine and you can thank John Denver for that. 

• 

  Kelly Mustian

  Kelly Mustian is the author of the USA Today and SIBA bestselling novel The Girls in the Stilt House, shortlisted for the 2022 Crook’s Corner Book Prize. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, and she is a past recipient of a regional artist grant from the North Carolina Arts and Science Council. After years of migrating around the county, Kelly currently lives in North Carolina.   

• 

  Brooke Shaffner

  Brooke Shaffner’s novel Country of Under won The 1729 Book Prize and is forthcoming from Mason Jar Press in April 2024. Country of Under was the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction runner-up and was shortlisted for Dzanc Books’ Prize for Fiction and Black Lawrence Press’s Big Moose Prize. Brooke is working on a memoir, an excerpt of which won the 2023 Lit/South Award and appeared in Litmosphere. Other work has been published in The Hudson Review, Lost and Found: Stories from New York, The Lit Pub, Marie Claire, and BOMB. Brooke has been awarded artist grants from United States Artists and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Ucross Foundation, Saltonstall Foundation, Edward Albee Foundation, Jentel Foundation, I-Park Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. Brooke teaches and edits through her company Between the Lines. With her partner Niteesh Elias, she founded Freedom Tunnel Press to publish books that straddle borders. Read more at brookeshaffner.com. 

• 

  Betsy Thorpe

  Betsy Thorpe started her career in New York City as in the editorial departments in the adult trade divisions of Atheneum, HarperCollins, Broadway Books (Random House), Macmillan, and John Wiley & Sons. She has been working as an independent editor for two decades, helping many writers fulfill their publishing goals, co-writing books that have appeared on Oprah and in the New York Times, as well as writing her own novels under the pen name Hope Carolle. 

• 

  Tommy Tomlinson

  Tommy Tomlinson is the author of the memoir The Elephant In the Room (Simon & Schuster, 2019), about life as an overweight man in a growing America. His new book, Dogland, about the Westminster Dog Show, comes out in April 2024. Tommy is the host of the podcast SouthBound at WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR station, and he also does weekly commentaries for the station. He also has a Substack newsletter called The Writing Shed. He has written for publications including Esquire, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Garden & Gun, and many others. He spent 23 years as a reporter and local columnist for the Charlotte Observer. 

  He’s a graduate of the University of Georgia and was a 2008-09 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Tommy and his wife, Alix Felsing, live in Charlotte. 

• 

  Landis Wade

  Landis Wade is a recovering trial lawyer-turned-author and podcaster whose recent novel, Deadly Declarations, has won more than six awards in mystery, thriller and, historical fiction categories, including Winner in the 2022 American Fiction Awards and Finalist in the Mystery and Mayhem category of the 2022 Chanticleer International Book Awards. He founded Charlotte Readers Podcast in 2018 where he has conducted more than 500 author interviews in more than 33 U.S. states and four countries and he is the author of The Write Quotes series, eight books that draw on quotes from the first four years of the podcast. To learn more, check out: www.landiswade.com and www.charlottereaderspodcast.com  

• 

  Junious ‘Jay’ Ward

  Junious ‘Jay’ Ward is a poet and teaching artist from Charlotte. He is a National Slam champion (2018), an Individual World Poetry Slam champion (2019), author of Sing Me A Lesser Wound (Bull City Press 2020) and Composition (Button Poetry 2023), and the City of Charlotte’s inaugural Poet Laureate. Ward has attended Breadloaf Writers Conference, Callaloo, The Watering Hole and Tin House Winter Workshop. His work can be found in Columbia Journal, DIAGRAM, Diode Poetry Journal, Four Way Review, and elsewhere.