Founded in 2000 and named for the library's innovative reading festival, the press garnered national attention with its premiere publication, Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing. This anthology, which features 25 short works from such renowned writers as Pat Conroy, Tom Wolfe and others who have appeared at the festival, received the first of four Independent Publisher Book Awards bestowed upon the press.

Novello Festival Press has since put nearly 300 writers into print, through anthologies and works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature. NFP books have garnered critical acclaim from such prestigious outlets as the New York Times, National Public Radio, Publisher’s Weekly and Southern Living magazine. Two NFP works have been named Literary Fiction Book of the Year by Foreword Magazine. Refuge, by Dot Jackson, received the prestigious Weatherford Award in 2006, which is given to a work of fiction that best illuminates the challenges, personalities and unique qualities of the Appalachian South.

All NFP titles are distributed nationally through John F. Blair, Publisher. Proceeds from NFP books benefit the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Novello Festival Press is committed to furthering the literary arts in our community. The press sponsors writing workshops in fiction, non-fiction and poetry led by some of the nation's most accomplished authors.

Each year, NFP presents the Novello Literary Award, which is given to a Carolina writer for a full-length work of literary fiction or non-fiction. The recipient's work is published by NFP and the writer receives a $1,000 advance against royalties.