Charlotte Donlon’s writing and work are always rooted in helping her audience, readers, and retreat participants notice how art and other good things help them belong to themselves, others, the divine, their places, and the larger world around them.

Charlotte's first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other, was published by Broadleaf Books in 2020. She is currently writing Spiritual Direction for Writers, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2025. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere.

Charlotte has been leading small groups, hosting gatherings, and facilitating retreats for more than 20 years. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and a certificate in spiritual direction. Charlotte is the founder of Spiritual Direction for Belonging™ , Spiritual Direction for Writers® , and Parenting with Art®.

Charlotte is an author with a broad audience and a spiritual director for people who inhabit points all along the belief-unbelief spectrum. She includes some faith threads in her writing and work, but her words always strive to be generous and welcoming to people from different spiritual traditions, in addition to those who share her Christian beliefs.

Charlotte lives with her husband and their two young adult children in Birmingham, Alabama. Some of her favorite things are blooming forsythia at the beginning of spring, sitting on the beach under an umbrella in the summer, glorious golden gingko trees in the fall, and hot toddies in the winter. She enjoys reading in bed anytime, especially on Sundays.