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Pen to Paper: Write in Community

Charlotte Lit’s “Pen to Paper” is a free gathering for writers—anyone who writes or wishes to start (or restart). Each one-hour session includes a short craft lesson and a writing prompt, 30-40 minutes of writing time, and an opportunity for sharing your work. The environment is casual, supportive, and generative—and helps support you in developing a consistent writing practice.

P2P’s regular meetings—Tuesdays 9:30-10:30 a.m. via Zoom—are are led by authors Kathie Collins, Paul Reali, Paula Martinac, and Luke Whisnant, with occasional guest facilitators. P2P After Hours—about once a semester in the evenings—is led by Meg Rich.

We look forward to seeing you. Register for any Pen to Paper here!

Pen to Paper Facilitators

Kathie Collins

Kathie Collins
Charlotte Lit Co-Founder & Executive Director
Poet & Mythologist

Kathie Collins, Ph.D., cofounded Charlotte Lit with Paul Reali in 2015 and has supported the organization in a variety of roles ever since. While it’s difficult to pinpoint job descriptions in an office where everyone does a little of everything, she’s recently taken to calling herself creative director. The rest of the team just calls her “Boss.” As the oldest of three and mother of five, the trait is ingrained. Kathie is also a poet, mythologist, and lifelong student of Jungian psychology. She is the author of Jubilee (Main Street Rag). Recent work has also appeared or is forthcoming in Flying South, Kakalak, Pedestal Magazine, and Santa Fe Literary Review. Her chapbook manuscript, Grass Widow, was named a finalist in Iron Horse Lit Review’s 2023 Chapbook contest. Contact: kathie@charlottelit.org.

Paul Reali
Charlotte Lit Co-Founder & Executive Director
Writer, Editor, Coach, Teacher

Paul Reali co-founded Charlotte Lit with Kathie Collins in 2015, and is the current executive director. He won the 2023 Doris Betts Fiction Award and is a past winner of the Elizabeth Simpson Smith Short Story and Ruth Moose Flash Fiction awards. His writing on creativity and business has been widely published, and his fiction is forthcoming in the North Carolina Literary Review. He was awarded a Wildacres residency in 2022, and received a Regional Artist Project Grant from Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council in 2018. He has an M.S. in Creativity from Buffalo State University. Contact: paul@charlottelit.org.

Paula Martinac

Paula Martinac
Charlotte Lit Community Coordinator
Writer, Editor, Teacher

Paula Martinac is the award-winning author of seven novels and three nonfiction books. Her short stories and essays have been published in Main Street Rag, Raleigh Review, Minerva Rising, Hippocampus, and other places. She has received fellowships from the Arts & Science Council and the North Carolina Arts Council and was the recipient of the 2023 William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for an unpublished mystery novel. In 2020, she was inducted into the Saints & Sinners Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals for their dedication to LGBTQ+ literature. Paula taught fiction writing at UNC Charlotte from 2015 to 2024. In addition to working as Charlotte Lit’s Community Coordinator, she is a freelance developmental editor.

Luke Whisnant is the author of six books and chapbooks, including In the Debris Field, which won First Prize in the 2018 Bath Flash Fiction International Novella-in-Flash competition, and the novel Watching TV with the Red Chinese, made into an independent film in 2012. His most recent novel, The Connor Project, came out in 2022. Luke’s work has been published in over 50 different journals and anthologies, with three appearances in New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, and three of his stories have made the Best American Short Stories Distinguished Stories list. He is Emeritus Professor of English at East Carolina University, where he was a three-time recipient of the department’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

Megan Rich

Megan Rich (Pen to Paper After Hours facilitator) has written two books, a YA novel and a travel memoir, and is seeking representation for her third, a literary thriller inspired by The Great Gatsby. She took part in the highly selective sub-concentration in creative writing at the University of Michigan, for which she completed a thesis of original poetry. She’s also a graduate of the selective Lighthouse Writers Workshop Book Project, and she is a 2022 recipient of the Arts & Science Council Charlotte’s Creative Renewal Fellowship. With 14 years’ experience as a creative writing teacher and mentor of students from ages 12 to 85, she is passionate about helping all writers find and refine their voices on the page.