Living Here Guide 2009
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Monday, Sep. 14, 2009

Branch out with literary leanings

PLCMC system recently named one of best in the nation by the Library Journal

By Pam Kelley - pkelley@charlotteobserver.com
  • Hot Tips

    Several area campuses, including Davidson College, Queens University and Lenoir-Rhyne University, host top authors each year. Many talks are free. On Oct. 26, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” speaks at Davidson with her sister, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of several young adult novels.

    Elizabeth Strout, whose “Olive Kitteridge” won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, is on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte's low-residency MFA Program. She'll speak at Queens on Nov. 19.

    Look for a variety of bestselling authors at signings held at local bookstores, including Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, and Joseph-Beth Booksellers at SouthPark.

If you love books, make sure to acquaint yourself with Mecklenburg County's award-winning library system.

The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County was recently named a five-star library – one of the best in the nation – in a new Library Journal ranking. It's no surprise why.

For one thing, it offers convenience. The Main Library, at 310 N. Tryon St., is in uptown Charlotte.

But the system has 23 additional locations, so you're sure to find a branch near you.

You can also reserve books, movies and music on the library's Web site, www.plcmc.org. Select a branch for pick up, and the library notifies you, by phone or e-mail, as soon as your item's available.

But loaning books is only part of the library's system's mission.

Branches offer a variety of activities, including book clubs and children's story times.

Kids and teens will enjoy ImaginOn, at 300 E. Seventh St. They can check out books, make movies, do animation and attend Children's Theatre classes and productions. (The building is also Charlotte's first public “green” building.)

Each October, the public library brings in an impressive lineup of authors for the Novello Festival of Reading, a high point of the community's literary year.

This year's speakers include North Carolina's own Clyde Edgerton and Christopher Buckley, author of “Losing Mum and Pup,” the bestselling memoir chronicling the deaths of his famous parents, William and Pat Buckley. (More info: www.novellofestival.org.)

The library also sponsors Novello Festival Press, a literary press that has put more than 300 writers into print since its founding in 2000.

Pam Kelley is the Observer's Reading Life editor. 704-358-5271.

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