Poetry Contest

Jaki Shelton Green, appointed in 2018, is the first African American and only the third woman to be appointed as North Carolina’s Poet Laureate. In 2021 she was reappointed by Governor Roy Cooper for a second term. Green is a 2019 Academy of American Poet Laureate Fellow, a 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, a 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointee, and a 2003 recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature. She teaches Documentary Poetry at the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies and is the 2021 Frank B. Hanes Writer in Residence at UNC Chapel Hill. Additionally, she received the George School Outstanding Alumni Award in 2021.

Her publications include: Dead on Arrival, Masks, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song (Blair Publishers), Feeding the Light, i want to undie you (Jacar Press), and i want to undie you English /Italian bilingual edition (Lebeg Publishers). In 2020, she released her first poetry album, The River Speaks of Thirst and a CD, i want to undie you. Additionally, Green serves as the 2022-2024 Poet Laureate in Residence at the North Carolina Museum of Art. She is listed on the Forbes distinguished 2022 list of Fifty Over Fifty Women.