To all 92 poets who participated in PIPS, on behalf of the NC Poetry Society, thank you for sharing your discerning work. (NCPS) will notify the 48 poets whose poems were chosen in November, and will post titles of the poems our judges thought met the program’s aspirations in December.
We had originally discussed releasing the posters to the host city coordinators to begin hanging them in January with our friends and businesses who support the program locally.
Unfortunately, like so many other things, PIPS has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as many of our past and future supporters have experienced shutdowns and closings.
Looking forward, we are postponing the launch until April 2021 – Poetry Month – with poems by four of NC’s living Poets Laureate. Hopefully many things in our society will be more stable then and we can promote the posters in ways they deserve.
Again, thank you to all who participated, our astute judges, and for the continuing support from the NC Writers’ Network, Winston-Salem Writers, Press 53, and our many supporters.
Sam Barbee
NCPS
Launched in Winston-Salem in 2013, Poetry in Plain Sight brings North Carolina poetry and poets to the public. Four poems are chosen monthly and displayed on posters in street-visible locations throughout arts districts and downtown areas in Winston-Salem and in our expansion cities. The goals are to bring poetry to a wider audience and to support North Carolina poets. This program is a collaborative effort among the North Carolina Poetry Society, the North Carolina Writers’ Network, and Press 53. Funding is sought locally through sponsorships and donations.
In 2018, two additional cities, New Bern and Waynesville, began featuring posters as part of the program as well.
For more information about the Poetry in Plain Sight Program, visit https://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/pips.