In today’s episode, author and long-time Charlotte sportswriter Scott Fowler shows us his varied talents as a writer. Many readers know Scott for his inciteful and entertaining sports coverage for The Charlotte Observer and for his non-fiction sports books, but you might be surprised to know that he’s written a young adult book and that he co-wrote and starred in a true crime podcast that Sports Illustrated called the best podcast of 2018.

In addition to discussing “Carruth,” the podcast about the infamous Carolina Panther who hired a hitman to shoot his pregnant girlfriend, Scott reads from “Panthers Rising,” a book about the Panthers and how they roared to Super Bowl 50. Scott also reads and discusses "Lost on the Road to Nowhere,” a young-adult adventure story about four children lost in the N.C. woods.

Scott starts with a read from Panthers Rising called “The Smile Ministry,” about a young man named Chancellor Lee Adams, the child of Ray Carruth and Cherica Adams, the boy who lived when his mother died at the criminal designs of his father.

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we preview what’s coming in Season 4, which starts September 3, 2019 and runs weekly through December 3rd. We also have prose and poetry readings from guests writers Pam Turner and Surabhi Kaushik, and consistent with our season preview tradition, we have a published essay by host, Landis Wade. All the readings explore truths in various forms.

Pam describes herself on Instagram as a “writer, meditator, library nerd, community builder taking one day at a time” and Surabhi describes herself as a “avid reader, nature lover and a compulsive writer, not necessarily in the same order.” Links to their writing can be found in the show notes at charlottereaderspodcast.com.

The first two pieces that Pam and Surabhi read come from “Beautiful Truth, A Gathering of Voices From Charlotte, North Carolina.” It’s part of CharlotteLit’s 2019 Beautiful Truth Initiative, which is discussed on the show, along with writing opportunities offered at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and CharlotteLit.

In today’s episode, we meet author and writing coach, Maureen Ryan Griffin, who reads poetry from her collection “Ten Thousand Cicadas Can’t Be Wrong” and guides us through her writing book, “Spinning Words Into Gold: A Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing.”

Among other topics, Maureen explores the why, when and where of writing, and discusses some of the secrets to good writing.

We start the show with Maureen reading her poem: “Why You Can Go Back to a Story You Abandoned Years Ago and Finally Finish It.”

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s live Class of 1979 Davidson College reunion episode, we meet authors John Gerdy, Elizabeth Holmes and Hans Watford, Davidson graduates who proved years later that a liberal arts degree really can help you do almost anything, including publish a few books without giving up your day job.

John was a successful college basketball player turned college sports commissioner turned lifelong musician who will read and discuss his latest book, “Ball or Bands,” which explores the educational return on investment of football programs versus investment in music programs.

And speaking of exploring, Elizabeth “Liz” Holmes, whose talents have allowed her to navigate the worlds of prose and poetry, takes us on an adventure in the book she will read and discuss: “Passing Worlds: Tahiti in the Era of Captain Cook.”

And finally, who better to write novels about doctors fighting for their lives in a medical suspense thriller than Hans, our classmate who lives the life of a doctor every day. We’ll find out from Hans whether Dr. Jack Harris will live to make it to book three.

We start with readings from our guest authors. John begins with a part of his book that shows two sides of his personality, SEC sports commissioner by day and a bluesman by night known as Willie Marble.

Liz starts with her poem, “Incidental,” which illustrates what can happen, only incidentally the captain would say, when the people from one world visit themselves on the people of another.

And Hans starts with a scene where Dr. Jack Harris, the lone physician in a decaying and cash-strapped emergency room on a cold Louisiana night, meets a young female assault victim who will lead him on a journey for his and her very survival.

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet Martha Kearse, author of “The Sun is Up,” a book that acknowledges white privilege and explores hospitality theology against the backdrop of Charlotte’s racial history.

Greg Jarrell, author of “Riff of Love,” says that “in a church culture that loves its willful blindness, this memoir comes from a powerful white lady who has seen the light, and now has an important song to sing.”

We start with Martha reading about the work that needs to be done, where she identifies what she calls “the very ugly, very large elephant in the room.”

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet young adult author, Lisa Williams Kline. Lisa will be reading essays, short stories and excerpts from her latest novel, “One Week of You.”

What’s the trick to writing about teen lives? Keep your brain in high school mode. In “One Week of You,” Lisa does just that with her humorous take on young love. Or is it just a crush? There is more than one mystery that needs to be solved in this book.

We start the show with Lisa reading “Happy Points,” a story about the confluence of depression and happiness.

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet poet and prose writers Alice Osborn and David Poston, who share their socially conscious poetry, essays and songs (Alice sings, not David, who only hums a bit).

We explore a variety of thought-provoking and haunting topics, including David’s essay on how reading made him a better person in the face of the me-against-you movement and Alice’s obsession to write prose and sing songs about the Donner party, a family that traveled west for a new life over 170 years ago and got stranded in the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We talk about Frankenstein, hear a poem about Chuck Norris and Jesus and one called “Bottom Drawer,” where a library book about civil rights was hidden by a young girl from her father.

We start first with Alice reading the poem, “Hunger” and David reading the poem, “When Hot People Die.”

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet Greg Jarrell, pastor, community activist, saxophonist and author of “A Riff of Love,” a melodic true story of his life in Enderly Park, a Charlotte community misunderstood and often ignored by the movers and shakers in the Queen City.

This is not a book to be taken lightly, nor one that a white person can read without becoming a bit uncomfortable at times. Greg pushes the reader to see race and poverty in ways that weren’t taught to white folk growing up and he invites every one of us to walk the streets of his neighborhood with new eyes.

He starts the story late at night, with him standing on the steps of a trap house, where his skin color makes him stand out. He knocks. Someone answers, turns and shouts: “There’s a white man at the door.”

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet Jeff Jackson, whose latest book “Destroy All Monsters” has been called “the last rock novel” and what Ben Marcus called a book that “surges with new-century anxiety and paranoia…A clear-eyed, stone-cold vision of what’s to come.”

The book deals with an epidemic of violence sweeping the country, where small punk rock bands are the targets. It’s a literary mystery with music at the core, and fittingly, it has a Side A and a Side B. You actually have to flip the book over to read an alternate track of the same story.

After Jeff wrote the book, he joined a punk rock band and you will hear a few of the haunting lyrics in his band’s songs on the show.

Jeff starts first with a scene in “Destroy All Monsters” where “a bustling que of teenagers wraps along the building’s perimeter, bodies pressed tight to keep a claim on their territory.”

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com

In today’s episode, we meet David Radavich and Dede Wilson, two very talented and well-published Charlotte poets.

David and Dede will be reading and discussing their recent books that involve connected poems. Dede’s book "Eliza: The New Orleans Years" from Main Street Rag is a journey of discovery and hardship for a young woman who travels to and settles in the new world in the 19th century. David’s book "America Abroad: An Epic of Discovery" explores the grand adventure of American settlement and expansion into the world over several centuries.

We start the show with Dede reading Happy Hours, from her book, "Under the Music of Blue," followed by David reading Sterling, from his book, "America Bound."

You can connect with the show at: charlottereaderspodcast.com