Verse & Vino is Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation’s signature annual fundraiser. For a decade, this celebration of reading, writing and the joy of libraries – shared with a community of readers and New York Times best-selling authors – has become one of our region’s most anticipated events.
Verse & Vino
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Crown Ballroom at the Charlotte Convention Center
Doors Open at 6 pm
This Year’s Authors & Their Books
Essie Chambers, Swift River
“A sparkling debut about a young girl you’ll never forget…. Chambers weaves irony and gut-punch emotion throughout this gorgeous debut.” — Washington Post
- A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK
- A BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER PICK
- A Most Anticipated Book from Today, Real Simple, TIME, The Los Angeles Times, and BookPage
Chambers debuts with a poignant coming-of-age story about a Black girl growing up in a predominantly white New England town north of Boston in 1987. It’s the summer before Diamond Newberry’s junior year of high school, and she and her Irish American mother, Annabelle, have been struggling to make ends meet since her father, Robert, disappeared seven years ago, when only his shoes and wallet were found on the side of the river. Knowing Annabelle would disapprove, Diamond secretly works at a motel to save money for driver’s ed lessons. After she befriends fellow student Shelly Ostrowski, the two begin making plans to move to Florida together following graduation. Diamond’s impulse to start a new life is driven partly by her mother’s continued struggle to obtain a death certificate for Robert, which they need for the life insurance benefit, and by Annabelle’s hurtful scrutiny. While plotting to leave, Diamond also exchanges letters with her father’s cousin Clara, who raised him. From Clara, Diamond learns more about the Black side of her family, and why they left town for Canada. Tension mounts as Diamond struggles to find a way forward and her bond with Annabelle stretches to its breaking point. Adding to the story’s depth are complex characterizations and intriguing epistolary interjections from Clara. Chambers’ assured first novel sings.
Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black
“The Return of Ellie Black is a page-turning suspense novel, a shrewd character study, and a captivating mystery, all at the same time. The last 50 pages are magnetic. I couldn’t put it down until I’d experienced every last twist and turn.” — Stephen King
Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state — but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers. It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State. But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.
The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.
Edward Lee, Bourbon Land
“If you think Kentucky whiskey only makes sense in a glass, let Chef Edward Lee’s unmatched prose show you how bourbon eats as good as it drinks.” — Vivian Howard, chef, author, and television
- Named a Best New Cookbook of Spring 2024 by Eater, Epicurious, and Food & Wine
In his highly anticipated follow-up to the James Beard Award-winning Buttermilk Graffiti, Edward Lee examines his favorite libation—bourbon—with recipes, essays, history, profiles, distillery tours, and more. Knowledgeable, entertaining, and more than a little infatuated with his subject, award-winning food writer and chef Edward Lee gives us his insight into bourbon, telling us everything we should know about the mellow honey-brown treasure that’s put Kentucky on the global map: How bourbon is made. Its history. How to read a label. A look inside the famous distilleries. The influence of oak. Tours of Kentucky’s bourbon regions. How to taste bourbon like a professional. And, in the most delicious surprise, how to cook with bourbon, with 50 recipes from Bourbon-Glazed Chicken Wings and Blackened Salmon with Bourbon-Soy Marinade to a Bourbon and Butterscotch Pudding. Plus the best Old-Fashioned you’ll ever mix.
Jessica Shattuck, Last House
“A richly detailed, slow-burning family saga distinguished by incisive psychological insight and masterful research… Shattuck is such a good writer, giving us swaths of cultural and historical background as gracefully and intelligently as she parses the emotional depths of her characters. Every note in the novel rings clear and true.” — New York Times
It’s 1953, and for Nick Taylor, WWII veteran turned company lawyer, oil is the key to the future. He takes the train into the city for work and returns to the peaceful streets of the suburbs and to his wife, Bet, former codebreaker now housewife, and their two children, Katherine and Harry. Nick comes from humble origins but thanks to his work for American Oil, he can provide every comfort for his family, including Last House, a secluded country escape. Deep in the Vermont mountains, the Taylors are free from the stresses of modern life. Bet doesn’t have to worry about the Russian H-bombs that haunt her dreams, and the children roam free in the woods. Last House is a place that could survive the end of the world.
It’s 1968, and America is on the brink of change. Protestors fill the streets to challenge everything from the Vietnam War to racism in the wake of MLK’s shooting–to the country’s reliance on Big Oil. As Katherine makes her first forays into adult life, she’s caught up in the current of the time and struggles to reconcile her ideals with the stable and privileged childhood her Greatest Generation parents worked so hard to provide. But when the Movement shifts in a more radical direction, each member of the Taylor family will be forced to reckon with the consequences of the choices they’ve made for the causes they believed in.
Spanning multiple generations and nearly eighty years, Last House tells the story of one American family during an age of grand ideals and even greater downfalls. Set against the backdrop of our nation’s history, this is an emotional tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance and what we owe each other–and captures to stunning effect the gravity of time, the double edge of progress, and the hubris of empire.
Order and Purchase in advance your Signed Book Bundle from the Authors
You can purchase a Collection of all four books featured at Verse & Vino with tote. $150.
This is a wonderful event for any reader, and often entire book clubs purchase tickets and go together. There are two opportunities for book signings with the authors, making this the IDEAL holiday gift shopping + fun-for-you evening.
The Schedule for the Evening
6:00 pm
Wine and cocktail hour, book sales, and book signings by the authors
7:00 pm
Dinner and Program
House Salad
Mixed greens, Brussels slaw, red and golden beets, and cucumber | White balsamic vinaigrette
Duet Entrée
Braised short rib Bourguignon and Roasted chicken with mushroom shallot mélange, demi-glace, garlic, herbs, and fresh lemon | Buttermilk mashed new potatoes and fresh asparagus
For Vegetarians and Vegans BBQ Tofu | Southern greens and black-eyed peas
Dessert Chocolate Truffle Torte or Pear Almond Tarte
9:30 pm
Program ends with an opportunity for additional book sales and signings
Where should I park for Verse & Vino?
The closest building entrance to the Crown Ballroom is the NASCAR entrance on Caldwell Street.
Self-parking is available at prevailing rates in parking lots and towers surrounding the Charlotte Convention Center. The NASCAR Hall of Fame parking deck is open and conveniently located at 500 Brevard Street, adjacent to the Charlotte Convention Center. The NASCAR Hall of Fame parking deck is also connected to the Charlotte Convention Center via a convenient over-street walkway. NASCAR will collect a flat event parking fee upon entrance to the garage. This self-pay at the beginning will dramatically speed up the exit time after the event. Please ask for the Verse & Vino rate. There is a Carolina Panthers game that evening; game attendees have a different parking rate.
The Westin Charlotte hotel also offers more than 1,600 spaces, conveniently located on the corner of Stonewall and College Streets, adjacent to the Charlotte Convention Center. Additionally, metered parking is available along many of the main streets in Center City. Some parking garages offer parking after 5:00 pm at reduced rates.
Click here for a map and directions from the Charlotte Convention Center.
