WCU Stories      October 21, 2019

North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will read selections from her works and hold a question-and-answer session at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the conference room of Blue Ridge Hall at Western Carolina University.

The event is free and open to the public.

Green is the first African American and the third woman to be appointed as the state’s poet laureate. A native of Orange County, she has penned eight books of poetry, co-edited two poetry anthologies and written one play. She is a 2014 North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee and was the recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature in 2003.

“While most people know that Jaki is a wonderful poet, not everyone knows what an amazing advocate she is for poets and poetry in North Carolina, or how much education and outreach she’s done, and is doing now, in the state,” said Catherine Carter, WCU professor of English. “She was the perfect choice for poet laureate, and it’s a privilege and an honor to have her here at WCU.”

In April, Green was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow by the Academy of American Poets, one of 13 poet laurates nationwide to be so honored. In addition to being a writer and poet, she is an instructor at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

The event is co-sponsored by WCU’s College of Arts and Sciences, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Programs, Office of Intercultural Affairs and the Department of English.

For more information, contact the Department of English at 828-227-3268 or Catherine Carter at 828-227-3931.