Charlotte Writers' Club to host Jeffery Deaver

Bestselling thriller author Jeffery Deaver will discuss writing and plot 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Charlotte Writers' Club's monthly meeting at the Queens University Conference Center, 2229 Tyvola Road. The event is free and open to the public.

Deaver, who lives in Chapel Hill, has written 27 novels, including, most recently, "Carte Blanche," the latest James Bond installment. Deaver's novel "The Bone Collector" was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.

In his next novel, "XO," out in June, heroine Kathryn Dance tries to stop a stalker from destroying a beautiful country singer.

Upcoming: A writing contest, class and anniversary

News from the book beat:

• The N.C. Writers' Network is accepting submissions for its 2012 Doris Betts Fiction Prize. The competition is open to any legal resident of North Carolina or member of the N.C. Writers' Network. It's for short stories of up to 6,000 words. The first-prize winner receives $250 and publication in the North Carolina Literary Review. Last year's winner was Thomas Wolf of Chapel Hill for his story "Boundaries." Details: www.ncwriters.org.

• The Charlotte Writers' Club is sponsoring its annual course, "Recalling Memories for Your Family or the Public." Margaret Bigger will teach the course 2-4 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 18-Feb. 15 at Christ Episcopal Church, 1412 Providence Road. Details or to register: 704-364-1788.

• The Charlotte Writers' Club marks its 90th anniversary this year. The club will celebrate at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 with a reception and program featuring readings by selected members. Note new location: Queens College Conference Center, 2229 Tyvola Road.
  

Venerable Charlotte Writers' Club launches new season

"In those first days it was surprising to me that so many Charlotte men and women really were skillful writers. They had needed just the spur and the confidence which this club was able to give them."

--Adelia Kimball, in a 1928 Charlotte Observer story on the Charlotte Writers’ Club

In 1922, Kimball, a recent transplant from Massachusetts, organized a local writers’ club in Charlotte.

Nearly 90 years later, the Charlotte Writers’ Club, one of the city’s oldest clubs, remains an important resource for aspiring and established authors. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the club kicks off a new season with a discussion of current publishing trends, including on-demand and e-publishing. If Kimball could only attend, she’d be amazed.

Still, much about the Charlotte Writers’ Club remains the same. With about 260 members, it continues to organize critique groups, where writers gather to read and review each others’ work. It also offers reasonably priced or free writing workshops.

Monthly meetings feature speakers, including authors, professors, literary agents and publishers, who discuss writing and literature from a range of perspectives.

Members include poets and novelists, memoirists, screenwriters, journalists. Some have published extensively. Some have never published. Most pursue their creative writing along with their day jobs.
Sherry Nadworny, for instance, works in public relations, but also writes fiction. She’d moved to Charlotte from Boston last year, sad to leave her writing group there.

Then she discovered the club and joined a critique group. “I found them to be incredibly welcoming, talented people,” she says. “It’s nice to have a group to help you get better. Everyone needs an editor.”
And maybe it’s just the gentility of the South, she says, but even when her critique members don’t like something about her work, “They say it in a lovely way.”

Want to know more?

The Charlotte Writers’ Club meets monthly September through May at Providence United Methodist Church, 2810 Providence Road.

Kevin Watson, founder of Winston-Salem’s Press 53, will discuss independent publishing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20.

www.charlottewritersclub.org.

‘The Tarball Chronicles’
In "The Tarball Chronicles” (Milkweed Editions; $24), UNC Wilmington’s David Gessner takes a journey “into the heart of the Gulf oil spill.” Publishers Weekly calls the work a “brilliant, thoughtful book.” It’s out on Sept. 19.

Lemony Snicket to judge Charlotte writing contest

Daniel Handler, better known to young fans as Lemony Snicket, will be this year's final judge for the Charlotte Writers' Club's Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story Contest.

The club is accepting entries until May 17. Short stories can be on any subject, between 1,500 and 4,000 words. They must be unpublished.

The club will provide preliminary judging. Handler, author of literary novels as well as his Lemony Snicket series for children, will choose the winners.

This year's top prize is an Apple iPad 2. Winners will be announced in September. Complete details: http://www.charlottewritersclub.org/.