Jaki Shelton Green Performance Poetry Prize

To honor its mission to promote and support writers who are a part of our state’s rich literary tradition, NCLR acknowledges the contribution of Spoken Word artists and poetic performances. Traditional rhythms and storytelling in prose and verse are woven into the emotional and cultural history of North Carolina, from the mountains to the coast. The Spoken Word tradition in North Carolina was built on the legacy of musical greats such as Thaddeus Monk, George Clinton, Shirley Cesar, and Nina Simone and has been fueled by the cultural heritage of storytelling and musicality embedded within the African American experience. From the streets to community stages to the state’s 11 HBCUs, the global influence of Hip Hop helped shape performance poetry platforms, but performance poetry is a broad umbrella, and we welcome submissions in any subgenre of performance poetry: hip hop, spoken word, slam . . . It is broader, deeper, more diverse, and more fluid than all these influences. Through this contest, NCLR and the North Carolina Poetry Society will showcase what we hope will be some of the best work by emerging and preeminent performance poets in North Carolina. Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman appointed North Carolina Poet Laureate. Her poetry and spell-binding readings have captivated diverse audiences in North Carolina and worldwide through live performances and recorded media. She embodies the authority, empathy, and wisdom to balance the duality of the “southernness” and the complexity of humanness that audiences find electrifying, authentic, instructive, and inspirational.

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