Poet Jaki Shelton Green, of Mebane, will be inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 12. She sat down with D.G. Martin recently on WCHL 97.9 FM to talk about her work with female prisoners, how she writes “always with fear,” and her hope that her poetry can be understood by everyone, from the marginalized to the privileged.
Listen to the full interview here.
Jaki Shelton Green received the North Carolina Award for Poetry in 2003. She has published four books of poetry through Carolina Wren Press: Dead on Arrival (1977, and reprinted in 1983 and 1996), Conjure Blues (1996), singing a tree into dance (2003), and Breath of the Song: New and Selected Poems (2005). Her new chapbook, Feeding the Light, is out this month from Jacar Press. Her works have been choreographed and performed by many renowned dance companies. She is a lifelong human services advocate; she has worked with Legal Services, and on issues such as domestic violence. She is an advocate for women, children and the mentally ill. Additionally, she has used poetry and art as a healing and empowerment tool for disenfranchised populations such as the homeless, the newly literate, and incarcerated women. She was the 2009 Piedmont Laureate.
The North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame 2014 Induction Ceremony will be held Sunday, October 12, at 2:00 pm, at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities in Southern Pines. The ceremony is free and open to the public. For more information, click here.