Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina Poet Laureate, Reads and Discusses Her Poetry

In today’s episode 68, North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green reads a number of her poems, discusses her work as Poet Laureate and shares her love of writing poetry.

Jaki is the first African American to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. When Governor Roy Cooper appointed her in 2018, he said that Jaki “brings a deep appreciation of our state’s diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature.”

Jaki starts the show reading her poem “i know the grandmother one had hands,” which she wrote when leading a series of writing workshops for women on Death Row, where the exercise was to write about the power of hands.

Connect with the author

Check out the author’s website here: https://sistawrite.com

Articles about the author’s appointment as NC Poet Laureate

https://www.newsobserver.com/living/article213581684.html

https://indyweek.com/culture/art/as-our-states-new-poet-laureate-jaki-shelton-green-amplifie/

https://www.wunc.org/post/poet-people-meet-jaki-shelton-green

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About the Author:

Jaki Shelton Green is the author of eight collections of poetry. She has been published in over eighty national and international anthologies and featured in magazines such as Essence and Ms. Magazine.

As a community arts advocate, Jaki has created and facilitated programs that serve various audiences and populations, including the incarcerated, homeless, chronically and mentally ill, victims of domestic violence, public and private schools, literacy programs, immigrants, and community economic development and social justice nonprofits.

Her awards are numerous, which include Orange County Baha’i 2019 Light of Unity Award, 2019 NC Humanities Council Caldwell Award, 2019 American Academy of Poets Laureate Fellowship, 2018 Tar Heel of the Year Finalist, 2018 Indies Arts Award, 2018 NC Literary and Historical Association R. Hunt Parker Award, 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2014 Pushcart Prize Nominee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointment, the African American Writer’s Collective Distinction Award, and the 2003 North Carolina Award for Literature (the highest award the state can bestow for significant contributions in science, literature, fine arts, and public service).

Among many other teaching assignments, Jaki teaches documentary poetry at the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies and has taught in the Carlow University MFA Program. Jaki is the owner of SistaWRITE and co-partner with Dream Yourself Awake and Vertikal Creative Ventures providing writing retreats and travel excursions for women writers in Sedona Arizona, Ocracoke North Carolina, Agadir Morocco, and Tullamore Ireland.

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Making Mid-rolls Fun

Our mid-roll guest this week, Fabi Preslar, owner of Spark Publications, shares how she and her business work with authors to help them grow their business.

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