Jaki Shelton Green was appointed North Carolina's ninth poet laureate in 2018 by then-Gov. Roy Cooper. She is the first African American and the third woman to hold the position.
She has spent her tenure focused on mentoring and cultivating young poets. She created North Carolina’s High School Poet Laureate Program to inspire and engage with students and show that poetry is still relevant, even today.
A native of Efland, North Carolina, Green has taught poetry and creative writing at public libraries, universities, community colleges, K-12 schools, and community nonprofits nationwide. She recently retired from teaching documentary poetry at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.
Her poetry collections include Dead on Arrival, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song, Feeding the Light, and i want to undie you, the latter also published in a bilingual English-Italian edition. In 2020, she released her first LP poetry album, The River Speaks of Thirst, produced by Soul City Sounds and Clearly Records.
She'll speak at 11 a.m. Thursday, November 6, at Catawba College, but ahead of that talk, she join us to discuss her life, legacy and the importance of poetry in today's divided times.
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Jaki Shelton Green: North Carolina's first African American poet laureate
