ABOUT THE EVENT

Calling all grown-ups! 

CFLC’s friends and supporters are invited to gather for great stories, libations, and fun. Our favorite NC writers and entertainers are returning to read humorous and moving literary works. Round up your happy hour crew and join us for this unique storytelling series!

DETAILS

• Dates: Series begins on 9/23 and runs each Tuesday through 10/28
• Time: Doors open for Meet and Mingle at 5 pm; Program begins at 5:30 pm
• Tickets: $20 per event
• Save with a Season Pass: All events in the series for $100
• New Location: Azalea Station (1502 Castle St)
• Food & drinks available for purchase
• Q&A with special guest moderators follows each presentation

Proceeds from these events benefit CFLC’s adult education programs, keeping them free for our students.

$20 - $100

Tuesday 9/23
Reading "The Greens on Queen Street" from 27 Views of Wilmington

WHQR Facilitator: Kelly Kenoyer 

Rhonda Bellamy is the founding executive director and President/CEO of the Arts Council of Wilmington/New Hanover County, serving for over a decade as the heart of Wilmington’s arts scene. She chairs Arts North Carolina, advocating for equity and access to the arts statewide. Rhonda has received numerous honors, including the White Lotus Lifetime Achievement Award and the City of Wilmington’s Living Legend Award. A seasoned journalist, she is the host and executive producer of “Around Town with Rhonda Bellamy.” Check out the latest episode on WHQR Public Media. 

Tuesday 9/30
Reading “Bill” and “Terrible Argument” by Brad Watson

WHQR Facilitator: Rachel Keith

Nina de Gramont is the author of nine books, most recently The Christie Affair (February 2022, St. Martin's Press).

Her work has appeared in the Harvard Review, the Colorado Review, Pembroke, PostRoad, StoryQuarterly, and other magazines. Her next novel, Peregrine Hill, is forthcoming with Simon and Schuster. She lives in coastal North Carolina. 

Tuesday 10/7
Reading Best American Essays 2025 (edited by Jia Tolentino) 

WHQR Facilitator: Aaleah McConnell

John Jeremiah Sullivan is a writer in various genres who lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he co-founded the non-profit research collective Third Person Project. He is the author of the memoir Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter’s Son (2004) and the essay collection Pulphead (2011), which was included by the New York Times Book Review on its list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. He has been the recipient of several awards and honors, including the Whiting Award, the Windham-Campbell Prize, a Guggenheim, two National Magazine Awards, a Pushcart Prize, and a fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. His essays, stories, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Paris Review, The Oxford American, The Yale Review, and other publications. He is a contributing writer for the New York TImes Magazine. His next book, The Prime Minister of Paradise, about a forgotten 18th-century utopian experiment, is forthcoming from Random House. 

Tuesday 10/14
Reading The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark 

Anita Thomas moved to Wilmington in 2000 after spending 20 years in Atlanta and believes she has died and gone to heaven. A native Floridian and FSU alum, she now passes herself off as a Wilmingtonian whenever she thinks she can get away with it. 

Her two careers have been in advertising while living in Atlanta, and as the Publisher’s assistant at the Wilmington StarNews for ten years until her retirement in 2014. She began volunteering at the Literacy Council back in the Mardi Gras Gala days and continues today as part of the Amazon Book Seller team. She is also a member since 2006 of Wilmington Toastmasters and serves as club Secretary. 

Anita self-published her first novel, Blood Will Tell, in late 2023 and recently released her narration of an audible version because she loves to read out loud. 

Tuesday 10/21
Reading A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk

Zach Hanner is an actor, musician, stage director, and writer from Mt. Airy, North Carolina. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Performance Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A dedicated advocate for youth arts, Zach's original play, "#Alice: A Cautionary Technology Fable," won StarNews Media's 2015 Theater Award for Best Children's Theater Production. Zach recently portrayed Don Kirschner in Opera House Theatre Co.'s production of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical."

Tuesday 10/28
Reading announcement coming soon!

WHQR Facilitator: Ben Schachtman  

Celia Rivenbark, a native of rural Duplin County, was born 100 yards or so from The World’s Largest Frying Pan in Rose Hill, NC. Try not to be jealous.

Celia is a New York Times-bestselling author of seven humor collections, an award-winning playwright and a longtime humor columnist for Gatehouse Media and, later, Gannett newspapers. She currently writes a popular political humor blog called “Celia Dishes” which can be accessed at celiarivenbark.substack.com. and is enjoyed by readers in 46 states and 17 countries.

Celia is a former CFLC volunteer tutor, and she was a founder of the council’s longtime fundraising Spelling Bee for Literacy. She and her husband, author and retired hospital executive Scott Whisnant, live in downtown Wilmington.

$20 - $100

Clyde Edgerton –  this fall, Clyde will be in other parts of NC, working on a project with his family. His story “Hearing Aids” will appear in The Best Short Stories 2025: The O. Henry Prize Winners in September. 

Wiley Cash – the creator of the Adult Story Hour concept, is away on a Writing Fellowship at Washington College in Chestertown, MD.

Wills Maxwell Jr. – continues to share his humor and insights on his YouTube channel where he hosts The Podcast with Wills Maxwell.

Adult Story Hour 2025 is proudly sponsored by

Gift in Kind Sponsor:

Interested in sponsoring Adult Story Hour?