Poet, Writer and Professor Charles Israel Shares His Love of Poetry and Short Stories

In this episode 137, we visit with Charles Israel, author of the poetry chapbook, “Stacking Weather,” whose poetry and stories have been published in numerous journals.

Morri Creech, author of “Paper Cathedrals” and “Field Knowledge,” says of “Stacking Weather,” that Charles Israel performs an impressive balancing act, supporting the precarious gifts of birth and fatherhood against the insistent gravities of age and death.”

Charles is an English professor at Queens University in Charlotte, specializing in creative writing, professional writing, and American Studies. In this episode, we explore his love of writing poetry and prose and hear him read his work.

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This is the first book in the Christmas Courtroom trilogy, books that combine the humor of My Cousin Vinny with the hope of Miracle on 34th Street. The third book in the trilogy won the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Award in the Holiday Category. Learn more about the books Here. 

About the Author:

Charles Israel’s poetry chapbook, Stacking Weather, won the Flip Kelly Award from Amsterdam Press. He’s also had poems and stories in Field, The Cortland Review, Crazyhorse, Nimrod International Journal, Zone 3, Pembroke Magazine, Eleven Eleven, Journal of the American Medical Association, Waccamaw Journal, and North Carolina Literary Review.

Charles is a versatile writer. In addition to his poetry and prose, he’s been a contract writer, a proposal writer, a proofreader, a freelance business editor, a reporter and an indexer. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University, and MA in English from UNC-Chapel Hill and a BA in English with a concentration in American Studies from University of Virginia.

He’s been teaching for many years. He was associate program director, National Associated Writing Program, in the English Department at Western Michigan University, where he led writing workshops for secondary school teachers (1995-1997). He was a visiting professor at Western Michigan University in the English Department, where the taught poetry and fiction writing (1996-1997).

From 2000 to the present, he’s been an assistant professor in the English Department at Queens University in Charlotte. In that role, he’s taught professional writing, fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry writing and he used workshop method and process-oriented approaches. He also taught in the Queens Core liberal arts and general education programs, specifically the sophomore-level American Experience class. And he’s served as a faculty leader on study-abroad trips to China and Tibet, Italy, plus western, central, and southern Europe.

Charles lives in Charlotte with his wife, Leslie.

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Recent Publications

2019    Short story, “Ask a Crow,” published in The Adirondack Review, Fall 2019 issue.

2019    Short story, “Black Bottom,” published in Straylight Literary Magazine.

2019    Short story, “Late Race,” published in MoonShine Review, Vol. 15, No. 1.

2017    Short story, “’Raise your eyes to the ceiling, ladies and gentlemen,’” published in Loud Zoo, #9.

2017    Short story, “Yeah, that’s it,” published in Steel Toe Review, Issue #26.

2017    Short story, “Spillways,” published in Pembroke Magazine, No. 49.

2017    Short story, “Chasers,” published in The Avenue, Vol. 4.

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