The first week featured work from poets in the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. The second week showcased works by Shelby Stephenson whose book, “Possum,” was the 2005 winner of the Brockman-Campbell award. The third week featured works of David Manning, who won the 2006 Poet Laureate Award, and the final week will feature works of Poet Laureate Award finalists and other notable poems selected by Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer of Cullowhee.
“North Carolina is indeed fortunate to have so many wonderful poets and a Poet Laureate who celebrates and promotes the work of these poets,” said Pat Riviere-Seel, president of the Poetry Society. “Through her Website, Kay Byer has introduced many outstanding North Carolina poets to a wider audience.”
The N.C. Poetry Society is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that began in 1932 in Charlotte, with six members dedicated to encouraging the reading, writing and enjoyment of poetry. Today, the Poetry Society has grown to approximately 350 members. The Society continues its mission through annual contests for adults and students, educational meetings at Weymouth Center in Southern Pines and across the state, poetry workshops and a statewide student mentoring program.
The Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series pairs student poets in middle school, high school and college with an established poet mentor who works one-on-one with students on craft and oral presentation. The student poet and mentor participate in at least one public reading. The program is funded by a grant from poet Marie Gilbert of Laurinburg. The North Carolina Center for the Book has become a co-sponsor of this program and funds additional readings across the state.
Each year the Poetry Society honors the best book of poetry by a North Carolina poet with the Brockman-Campbell Award, a $200 cash prize and a reading at Weymouth Center in September. Shelby Stephenson, the 2005 winner, is a professor of English at UNC Pembroke where he has edited Pembroke Magazine since 1979. He has received numerous awards for his poetry, including the North Carolina Award for Literature in 2001.
The Poetry Society’s annual student and adult contests are designed to celebrate the highest standards in poetry and the winning poems are published in an annual book, “Pinesong Awards.” The Poet Laureate Award honors a poem of exceptional quality. Each entry is read by a preliminary judge who selects 10 poems as finalists and sends these to the state Poet Laureate who selects the winning poem. Like all contests, the entries are “blind” and the preliminary judge is from outside North Carolina.
The 2006 Poet Laureate winner, Dave Manning of Cary, previously won the award in 1996 and 1998. He is the author of four published chapbooks, most recently “The Ice Carver” (2004), winner of the Longleaf Press Chapbook Contest.
This year’s finalists for the Poet Laureate Award were Katherine Barr of Charlotte, Deborah H. Doolittle of Jacksonville, Sue Farlow of Climax, Mary Golding of Asheville, Marylin Hervieux of Hillsborough, Susan Lefler of Brevard, Michael Potts of Linden, Rachelle Rogers of Asheville and Sharon Sharp of Boone. All winning poets were invited to Weymouth Center to read their poems at the Poetry Society’s Awards Day meeting this spring.
“Each year I am impressed with the quality of the poems that we receive for the contests,” Riviere-Seel said. “It’s great to see and hear such terrific poems.”
The Poetry Society holds three meetings and the Sam Ragan Poetry Festival at Weymouth Center each year. In addition, the Poetry Society sponsors regional meetings each year. Meetings at Weymouth Center are usually the third Saturday of January, May (Awards Day for Student and Adult Contests) and September (Brockman-Campbell Award presented). The Sam Ragan Poetry Festival, a day of poetry and song honoring the former N.C. Poet Laureate, Sam Ragan, and celebrating poetry with readings and performances, is usually held the third Saturday in June. All meetings are free and open to the public.
Poetry Society members receive a newsletter published three times a year, reduced rates at workshops across the state, free entry to most Poetry Society contests, a free critique of three poems by distinguished poets, and a copy of “Pinesong Awards,” the annual book of award-winning poems. New members are welcome and may find more information and an application form on the Poetry Society website: www.ncpoetrysociety.org.
