Dee Stribling, the Poet Laureate of Hillsborough, NC, hosts a monthly poetry event called Poetry for Everybody with featured readers, followed by an open mic. In honor of Pride month, Dee will read along with me and Amir Rabiyah, a wonderful poet and author of Prayers for My 17th Chromosome. Join us on Wednesday, June 26th, from 6-7 pm at the main branch of the Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough.
Come out this Friday, 6:30-8:30, to Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill for a great evening of poetry celebrating International Women's Day!
Celebrate International Women's Day 2019 with a reading by poets of diverse age, race, and background, all female or who identify as female. Each poet will read three poems on the themes of who I am; what matters to me; and a woman who has loved, inspired, and/or influenced me. Featured readers: Pam Baggett, Joan Barasovska, Joanna Davidson, Terri Greco, Destiny Hemphill, Tsitsi Jaji, Maria Rouphail, Jessica Stark, Celisa Steele, and Hannah VanderHart. This program is supported by the Orange County Arts Commission.
Join us Thursday, September 6th at 7pm for the new Poetry Series starting up at The Regulator Bookshop for a powerful reading and book signing by Jaki Shelton Green. I look forward to reading with and introducing this great teacher, friend, and our state's new Poet Laureate.
POETRY SERIES: JAKI SHELTON GREEN with Joanna Davidson
The Regulator Bookshop welcomes Poet Laureate of North Carolina, Jaki Shelton Green, for a reading and book signing. Ms. Shelton Green will launch Regulator’s new Poetry Series! She will be introduced by poet and playwright Joanna Davidson. This event is free and open to the public.
A long-time friend of The Regulator Bookshop, JAKI SHELTON GREEN, North Carolina Poet Laureate, teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. She was inducted into the NC Literary Hall of Fame in 2014 and was awarded the 2007 Sam Ragan Award in Fine Arts and the 2003 NC Award in Literature. Jaki Shelton Green was chosen as the first Piedmont Laureate in 2009 and was selected and currently serves as the Poet Laureate of North Carolina (in 2018).
Poet and playwright JOANNA IMOGEN DAVIDSON serves as Poetry Editor for Treehouse literary magazine. Her ten-minute play “Unfolding” was read recently at the Women's Theatre Festival's Occupy the Stage 2018. A native of Wilkes County, she can't help but draw much from her Appalachian heritage and accent even while living in other parts of the state. Davidson is a queer, transgender woman, a southern belle with love of hats who lives in Carrboro.
Make some time on your calendars to attend the West End Poetry Festival in Carrboro, NC, this year October 17th - 20th. I will read and participate this year on a panel on intersections in poetry. Looking forward to this wonderful week of great poets!
More info at: http://www.westendpoetryfestival.org/schedule-of-events/
This summer I attended the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival at Lincoln Memorial University. I took workshops led by William Wright and Jesse Graves on collaboration in poetry and a songwriting session led by The Wild Ponies. The guest speakers were wonderful and I got to meet Ronni Lundy who wrote Victuals: An Appalachian Journey with Recipes. The next two weeks I participated in the Cumberland Gap Writers Studio with Sonja Livingston and the Poet Boot Camp with Aaron Smith. Both helped me generate a lot of poems and ideas to work on. I look forward the next few weeks revising and submitting as much as possible.
I always encourage anyone who can attend the Festival and related workshops to jump at the opportunity. I met so many great writers, making many friends, and look forward to attending next year.