Meet the New Piedmont Poet Laureate: Jaki Shelton Green

On Saturday November 15th at the NC Writers' Conference in RTP, the Raleigh Arts Commission, the Durham Arts Council and the Orange County Arts Commission revealed the 2009-2010 Piedmont Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green. Jaki is famous for her personal poems, most recently compiled in Breath of a Song. Jaki teaches creative writing to marginalized populations such as the homeless, the newly literate, the incarcerated, and the writer-as-survivor. In 2003 she received the North Carolina Award in Literature. Here's the link to a story about Jaki's new role.

I got to know Jaki when I served on the board of Carolina Wren Press. I sold many of Jaki's books at her Breath of a Song launch in 2005. If you don't her, she's warm, funny and dedicated to her craft. I can't think of a better poet to represent Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

After he read this blog posting, Thomas Pearce, reporter for the Daily Tar Heel, wrote this piece on Jaki's new position this week.