Charlotte Author Conversation: May 4 at the Pineville Library
March 13, 2024
This blog was written by Amanda Goldson, adult services librarian at Pineville Library.
Join six award-winning Charlotte authors on May 4 at 11 am at the Pineville Library for a conversation about their recent books—what they’re about and how they wrote them—and hear their writing tips and lessons learned.
Register for this event here.
This author event is co-sponsored by Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Charlotte Readers Podcast. Featured authors include Sarah Archer, Joy Callaway, Mark de Castrique, Kimmery Martin, and Cathy Pickens. The panel is moderated by author Landis Wade, founder of Charlotte Readers Podcast. The books and writing topics include mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, true crime, romance, comedy, and literary fiction.
Landis Wade is a trial lawyer turned author of thrillers, mysteries, and essays who founded Charlotte Readers Podcast(where he has conducted 500+ author interviews). His novel Deadly Declarations won ten awards, including Winner in the 2022 American Fiction Awards (Cozy Mystery category). With the help of his podcast co-hosts, he published The Write Quotes series, an 8 book collection that features inspirational and practical author quotes about writing and the writing life from authors in more than 33 U.S. states and four countries, and he co-wrote a comedic mystery with podcast co-host Sarah Archer about the dangers of podcasting with author guests titled Death by Podcasting. His short work has appeared in Writersdigest.com, The Charlotte Observer, Flying South, and in several anthologies, and his short story, The Deliberation, won the 2016 North Carolina Bar short story contest. He is a past board member of Charlotte Writers Club. To learn more about Landis, his books, and the podcast, click here.
Sarah Archer's debut novel, The Plus One, was published by Putnam and optioned for television. As a screenwriter, she has developed material for MTV Entertainment, Snapchat, and Comedy Central, and been recognized by the Black List, the Tracking Board, the Motion Picture Academy, and the Austin Film Festival. Her short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous journals and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She also co-hosts the award-winning Charlotte Readers Podcast.
Joy Callaway is the international bestselling author of The Fifth Avenue Artists Society, Secret Sisters, The Grand Design, All The Pretty Places, and What The Mountains Remember. She lives in Charlotte, NC with her family.
Mystery writer Mark de Castrique has authored twenty-three books. His novels have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. His Washington, DC thriller SECRET LIVES was one of five finalists for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgars 2023 Sue Grafton Memorial Award. Mark lives in Charlotte, but he and his wife Linda can be often found in the NC mountains or the nation’s capital.
Kimmery Martin is an ER doctor whose novels have been praised by People, Newsweek, and The New York Times. She also teaches Narrative Medicine at the local medical school and authors a column on Substack covering medical disinformation, humor, parenting, and social topics.
Kimmery speaks frequently at medical and literary events around the United States and honors her passion for public libraries by serving on the Board of Trustees of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Her most recent novel, Doctors and Friends, received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist.
Cathy Pickens, a lawyer and college professor, now writes about crime, fact and fiction. Her first novel, Southern Fried, was St. Martin’s Best New Traditional Mystery. (Now available from Joffe Books as The Blue Ridge Mountain Mysteries, with audiobook.) Professor emerita at Queens University, she is writing a series of Carolina true crime accounts for History Press, starting with Charlotte True Crime Stories. Author of CREATE, she offers coaching and workshops on developing the creative process.