Charlotte Sherman

Charlotte Watson Sherman was raised in Seattle. She worked as a personal recognizance screener, sexual abuse counselor, mental health interviewer, child welfare worker, and volunteer coordinator for a literacy program before becoming a librarian. She is the author of the short fiction collection Killing Color (Calyx Books); two novels, One Dark Body and touch (HarperCollins); as well as a children’s book, Eli and the Swamp Man (HarperCollins). She edited the anthology Sisterfire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry (HarperCollins). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Parenting, Essence, Ms., The Seattle Times, American Visions, Goodness Portland, and numerous anthologies.

Charlotte received a 2012 GAP to help cover the expenses of a research trip to Mississippi to collect photographs and conduct interviews. Her project, God’s Long Bones, is a novel based on the true story of the alleged 2004 murder of a former Seattle resident near Natchez, MS. A resulting multimedia project will highlight the issue of African-American land loss through a public presentation of narrative text, audio interviews, and photographs, and a multimedia website will further showcase the book’s themes and provide insight into the case and the land loss crisis.