ABOUT JAKI
Jaki Shelton Green, ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. She is a 2019 Academy of American Poet Laureate Fellow, 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointment, 2003 recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature. Jaki Shelton Green teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke University 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 Publishers. Feeding the Light, i want to undie you published by Jacar Press, i want to undie you English /Italian bilingual edition published by Lebeg Publishers. On Juneteenth 2020, she released her first LP, poetry album, The River Speaks of Thirst, produced by Soul City Sounds and Clearly Records. Jaki Shelton Green is the owner of SistaWRITE providing writing retreats for women writers in Sedona Arizona, Martha’s Vineyard, Ocracoke North Carolina, Northern Morocco, and Tullamore Ireland.
AWARDS
Jaki Shelton Green is the recipient of two NC Emerging Artist Grants, the African American Writer’s Collective Distinction Award, NC Writers Network Blumenthal Award, 2002 Omega Iota Finer Womanhood Award (Zeta Phi Beta Sorority) Delta Arts Award (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority).
Jaki Shelton Green is the author of eight collections of poetry: Dead on Arrival, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Masks, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song, published by Carolina Wren Press and Blair Publishers. Her other publications; Feeding the Light, I Want to Undie You are published by Jacar Press. Her poetry has been published in over eighty national and international anthologies and featured in magazines such as Essence and Ms. Magazine.
- 2020 Shaw University Ella Baker Women Who Lead Award
- 2020 St. Andrews University Fortner Award
- 2020 Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing
- 2020 Northern Orange County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee Achievement Award
- The INDY’s 19 People of 2019
- 2019 Spirit House Griot Cultural Alchemist Award, Orange County Baha’i
- 2019 Light of Unity Award
- 2019 NC Humanities Council Caldwell Award
- 2019 American Academy of Poets Laureate Fellowship
- 2019 Aura Galleria Our Minds Our Voices Woman of Distinction Award
- 2019 Antioch Baptist Church Durham African American History Award
- 2018 Tar Heel of the Year Finalist
- 2018 Indies Arts Award
- 2018 NC Literary and Historical Association
- R. Hunt Parker Award
- 2018 Phi Beta Kappa Award
- 2017-2018 Duke University Faculty Travel Grants
- 2017 Certification of Teacher Excellence presented by the Kingdom of Morocco Ministry of National Education
- 2016 Kathryn H. Wallace Award for Artists in Community Service
- 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee
- 2014 Pushcart Prize Nominee
- 2010 Fine Arts Emerald Award (Raleigh LINKS)
- 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointment
- 2007 Sam Ragan Award for Contributions to the Fine Arts of North Carolina
- 2003 recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature (the highest award the state can bestow for significant contributions in science, literature, fine arts, and public service)
- 2003 North Carolinianan Society induction.