Shelby Stephenson, award winning poet, educator and recipient of a North Carolina Award for literature, will be installed as the state's poet laureate in a ceremony with North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Monday, Feb. 2, 5:30 p.m. in the historic State Capitol, House of Representatives Chamber, One E. Edenton Street in downtown Raleigh.
"Shelby Stephenson's poetry expresses the heart and spirit of our land and people," said Governor McCrory. "He is a wonderful representative of the outstanding traditions of poetry and literature that are such important parts of our state's cultural heritage."
Shelby Stephenson was a professor of English and editor of Pembroke Magazine until his retirement in 2010. He was inducted in 2014 into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the state's highest civilian honor, a North Carolina Award for literature in 2001.
He is also the recipient of the Oscar Arnold Young Award from the Poetry Council of N.C., the Bellday Poetry Prize and the Brockman-Campbell Book Award. From 2004 to 2005, he served as a North Carolina Poetry Society Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet.
"Shelby Stephenson brings a deep appreciation of North Carolina to his new role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature," said Department of Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz. "His appointment as Poet Laureate is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina's rich literary history."
Stephenson, like his father, is a storyteller and his poems are about his life. His book The Persimmon Tree Carol is dedicated to the memory of his father, William Paul Stephenson, who inspired him to tell stories through poetry.
"I believe that poetry exists in every living thing. My poetry connects the local and the universal and is grounded in memory of the land and people of North Carolina," Stephenson said. "Poetry salvaged my life. I am happy to wake up and write. I enjoy helping others see themselves anew."
Born in a plank house near McGee's Crossroads in Johnston County, Stephenson grew up on the family farm known as "Paul's Hill." As a boy he learned to play the guitar and developed a lifelong love of music. His poetry draws inspiration from his childhood memories of rural North Carolina, where the fields were plowed with mules and generations of his forebears rested in the cemetery across the road.
Employed as a busboy, janitor, and disc jockey, Stephenson worked his way through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, eventually earning a bachelor's in English and then studying law. On his way to obtaining a master's from the University of Pittsburgh and a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he also worked as a television announcer, salesman, and right-of-way agent.
After chairing the English department at Campbell College, in 1978 Stephenson joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke to teach literature and creative writing.
Joseph Bathanti, who served as the state's poet laureate from July 2012 to June 2014, will be recognized by Governor McCrory during the ceremony. Also participating in the ceremony will be Susan Kluttz, Secretary Department of Cultural Resources, and Wayne Martin, Executive Director, N.C. Arts Council.
Media representatives interested in interviewing Shelby Stephenson can contact Rebecca Moore, N.C. Arts Council at (919) 807-6530.