Culture Rewind: Top 5 From Charlotte Creatives in February
Erick Lottary and Cyanca Team Up for “Replay”
Lute Gets Aristocratic in New Video
It’s been damn near three years since we got new solo music from Dreamville’s Lute West, but early this month he hit us with a new track and video called “GED (Gettin’ Every Dolla).” In the visuals, Lute lives the life of a blue blood, to the dismay of old, moneyed white folks.
The song was preceded by a series of ads released by Dreamville in which Lute peddles the GED credit card, but were actually just teasers to the video, which dropped on Feb. 4. The song is Lute’s first solo offering since his 2017 album West 1996 Pt. 2, and we’re hoping to see more soon.
Autumn Rainwater Drops New FLLS-Produced EP
It was a strong start to the month for Charlotte music, and it was all started by Autumn Rainwater on Feb. 3, with the release of her new 5-track EP, Raincheck, produced entirely by FLLS, whom we named Best Producer in last year’s Best in the Nest awards.
The project consists of nothing but smoothly sung bangers, broken up by a skit in the middle and an appearance from local rapper Cuzo Key on one of the tracks, titled “I Miss U.”
Kimmery Martin Releases Sophomore Novel
Charlotte author Kimmery Martin released The Antidote for Everything on Feb. 18, a follow-up to her best-selling debut novel, The Queen of Hearts, which she released two years prior in February 2018. The former ER doctor stuck with the medical profession for the new book’s plotline, in which two doctors travel a surprising path when they must choose between treating their patients and keeping their jobs.
According to Martin’s website: “Georgia Brown’s profession as a urologist requires her to interact with plenty of naked men, but her romantic prospects have fizzled. The most important person in her life is her friend Jonah Tsukada, a funny, empathetic family medicine doctor who works at the same hospital in Charleston, South Carolina and who has become as close as family to her. Just after Georgia leaves the country for a medical conference, Jonah shares startling news. The hospital is instructing doctors to stop providing medical care for transgender patients. Jonah, a gay man, is the first to be fired when he refuses to abandon his patients. Stunned by the predicament of her closest friend, Georgia’s natural instinct is to fight alongside him. But when her attempts to address the situation result in incalculable harm, both Georgia and Jonah find themselves facing the loss of much more than their careers.”
You can find the book on Amazon, but we’re not going to link that because we’d rather you support local and hit up Park Road Books for a copy. They’ve got plenty.
New Charlotte-Based Literary Media Organization Launches
On Feb. 23, the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte launched the Southern Review of Books, a new online literary publication and event series dedicated to books and authors in the American South and beyond. Developed in partnership with Adam Morgan — founding editor of the Chicago Review of Books and now living in Charlotte — the SRB will publish book reviews, author interviews and literary news.
“I’ve long been a huge admirer of the Chicago Review of Books, which quickly became an essential part of our literary discourse, so I am thrilled that the Southern Review of Books will be adding a valuable new voice to that conversation,” said Andy Hunter, publisher of Literary Hub, Catapult, Counterpoint Press, Soft Skull Press and founder of Electric Literature and Bookshop.org.
“Our wish for the Southern Review of Books is for it to be an extension of what we strive for at Queens, that it will celebrate and honor our love of good writing,” the MFA program says in its official announcement in support of the SRB. “We hope it will serve as an inclusive medium for a conversation that is as open as it is enriching, and that it will not only help sustain this vibrant writing community we are lucky to be a part of, but amplify it.”
In addition to the website, the Southern Review of Books will host a monthly event at the new That’s Novel Books at Camp North End, which celebrated its grand opening on Feb. 28. The Charlotte Writers Salon, a social hour followed by a moderated conversation with a guest author, editor, or publisher, will be open to the public. The first salon event on April 2 will feature Kathy Reichs — the Charlotte-based producer of the TV series Bones, which was based on her Temperance Brennan novels — and her son Brendan Reichs, the NYT bestselling author of the Project Nemesis series.
“I’m thrilled to bring a new literary publication to the South, and to foster a community for readers and writers in Charlotte,” said Adam Morgan, who will serve as editor-in-chief of the Southern Review of Books. “Southern literature has always been more than just Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, and we want to celebrate the region’s cultural and literary diversity.” The SRB will also celebrate Southern-based poets and writers with annual awards for the year’s best fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and stories/essays.
“Also, while the Charlotte region is home to dozens of writers and some beautiful bookstores,” Morgan added, “it doesn’t have the literary infrastructure or reputation of Atlanta, Savannah, New Orleans, or Asheville. We want to help change that.”
Morgan will be joined by an editorial and contributing staff of Queens alumni and current students, as well as editors-at-large spread throughout the South.
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