Jaki Shelton Green
Instructor
Jaki Shelton Green, ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina, is the first African American and third woman to be named to the post; she was appointed in 2018 and reappointed for a second term in 2021 by Governor Roy Cooper. She is a 2019 Academy of American Poet Laureate Fellow, 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointee, and 2003 North Carolina Award for Literature recipient. Green teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies and was appointed 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 (published by Blair), Feeding the Light, and i want to undie you (published by Jacar Press); (English /Italian bilingual edition of i want to undie you published by Lebeg). In 2020, she released her first poetry album, The River Speaks of Thirst and a CD, i want to undie you. Green currently serves as the 2022-2024 Poet Laureate in Residence at the North Carolina Museum of Art and was selected for the Forbes distinguished 2022 list, 50 Over 50, in the Lifestyle category.
