• By Walkertown Branch Library
  • Posted Friday, April 8, 2016

Charlie Lovett at Walkertown Library

Charlie Lovett is a writer, teacher, and playwright whose plays for children have been seen in over 3000 productions worldwide. He was born in Winston-Salem, NC in 1962 and grew up as the child of an English professor. He spent his summers in the rural North Carolina mountains, which instilled an early affinity for the countryside. In 1984, Charlie went into the antiquarian book business. About that same time he began to seriously collect books and other materials relating to Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

After leaving the book business, Charlie continued to be a book collector, and now has a large collection of rare books and artifacts connected to Lewis Carroll and his world. Charlie's most recent major acquisition is Lewis Carroll’s own 1888 typewriter. He has written five books about Lewis Carroll and countless articles. Charlie has served as the president of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, and editor of the London based Lewis Carroll Review.

In 2001, his wife, Janice, was hired to oversee the third grade drama program at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC. Bemoaning the lack of good material for elementary school performance, she asked if he would write a play. Thus began Charlie's career as a children’s playwright. For eleven years, as Writer-in-Residence at Summit, he wrote plays for third graders and for eighth and ninth graders. Nineteen of his plays have been published, including his first, Twinderella, which won the Shubert Fendrich Playwriting Award, beating over 750 other entries. The plays have proved extremely popular and have been seen in over 3500 productions in all fifty states and more than 20 foreign countries.

His big break-through as a writer came when he wrote The Bookman’s Tale, which was ultimately accepted by Viking and by several other publishers worldwide. The Bookman’s Tale was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes and Noble Recommends selection, and has been translated into several foreign languages. Parade Magazine called the book “[A] delightful tale of love and bibliophilia.”

His latest novel, First Impressions (Viking, 2014; Penguin, 2015) is another literary adventure, this one starring Jane Austen. People Magazine called it “a delightful novel that weaves together a modern love story and a literary mystery involving Jane Austen.”

For more information about Charlie Lovett, check out his website or you can meet him at the Walkertown Branch Library.

Walkertown Branch Library Auditorium
Saturday, April 9th at 10:30am


Refreshments provided by the Friends' of the Walkertown Library Branch.

Click here for driving directions.

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