A Look at Famous North Carolina Poets in Honor of NaPoMo
- Angela Heiser
- Apr 10
- 5 min read
North Carolina is home to poets both past and present worth your attention if you haven’t read them yet. We are taking a closer look at key poets in our state’s history and talking about why you need to check them out. Then, we’ll introduce some current big players in the state’s poetry scene and where you can find them when they’re not at their desks writing more verse for us to enjoy.
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Historical North Carolina Poets You Should Get to Know
Also known as the Black Bard of North Carolina, George Moses Horton taught himself to read and write at a time when it was not legal for him to do so. He lived most of his life enslaved and his verse reflects that lived experience. Before he learned to write, he would memorize his poems. He sold custom-crafted love poems to students at UNC and, later in his life, lived in freedom and moved to Philadelphia. Today a historical marker stands in Chatham County, near the site of the plantation he lived on most of his life.
Maya Angelou
Although Maya Angelou was born in Missouri, some of her many accolades include her teaching credentials, right here in North Carolina at Wake Forest University. She taught there for thirty-two years on a variety of topics in the Humanities. Angelou authored over thirty books in her lifetime. Beyond the classroom, she was active in civil rights, theatre, wrote movie scripts and more.
Dr. Pauli Murray
Thanks to the Pauli Murray Center in Durham, this poet’s history is well preserved. You can even listen to them reading their poems aloud on their website. In addition to contributing to the poetry canon, Murray was also an Episcopalian reverend, an activist for human and civil rights, and one of the founders of the National Organization for Women.
A. R. Ammons is another poet tied to Wake Forest University, this time as a student. He authored many collections of poetry and was recognized with awards from the National Book Awards to the Bollingen Prize for Poetry. He was born in North Carolina on a farm that produced cotton and tobacco. This farm home provided the backdrop for many of Ammons’s poems.
Contemporary North Carolina Poets We Love
Tyree Daye is from Youngsville and is an Assistant Professor at UNC Chapel Hill. He has been a finalist for multiple writing awards. Daye has published three collections of poetry and has been chosen as a Cave Canem Fellow and the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellow. He is also judging NCLR’s Applewhite Poetry Prize Contest this month.
Gabrielle Calvocoressi has garnered much attention both locally and nationally, and for good reason. She teaches at UNC Chapel Hill and serves as the Poetry Editor for Southern Cultures. Her book, Rocket Fantastic, won the Audre Lorde Prize for Lesbian Poetry. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stop reading her poem, “Miss you. Would like to grab that chilled tofu we love.” Give it a read (or five) to see why I am obsessed.
Meg Day is an Assistant Professor right here in Raleigh at NCSU’s MFA program. Day was a Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence in 2024, where their work emphasized connections between sound experience, ASL, and poetry. Day’s book, Last Psalm at Sea Level, won the Audre Lord Award from Publishing Triangle. Day has also received an NEA Fellowship in Poetry, among other honors. Their work is rooted in exploring liminal spaces of identities and abilities, as a deaf and genderqueer poet.
Diamond Forde is an Assistant Professor in the NCSU MFA Program in addition to her duties as the Interviews Editor at Honey Literary. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including her most recent title, The Book of Alice, which won the James Laughlin Award from the American Academy of Poets. We also just love that her bio ends by describing herself as, “an avid lover of colorful dresses.”
Dasan Ahanu, former Piedmont Laureate, is a visiting professor at UNC Chapel Hill, the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at the North Carolina Poetry Society, and founder of Black Poetry Theatre. He was also recently named a 2026-2028 Southern US Fellow by the International Society for the Performing Arts. Learn more about him in the interview he did with us back in March!
Current Poet Laureates Across North Carolina
Jaki Shelton Green is North Carolina’s current state Poet Laureate and is hosting many exciting events around the state this month to celebrate NaPoMo. Her piece “Oh My Brother,” dedicated to Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and others killed by police violence, is absolutely gripping. In addition to her poet laureate duties, she teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke. She also owns SistaWRITE, where she organizes writing retreats for women in multiple locations, from Ocracoke to Morocco.
North Carolina’s Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate resides in Raleigh and is a high school student already deeply committed to poetry as an artform and a force of community. He will be at Page 158 in Wake Forest for a poetry workshop on April 12th.
Dr. Amanda Bennett
Dr. Amanda Bennett is the incumbent poet laureate in Carrboro, who we had the immense pleasure to interview recently. She is also judging our K-12 poetry contest. Thank you, Dr. Bennett!
Chapel Hill’s poet laureate hosts monthly free critique sessions at Epilogue Books, Rough Drafts. In honor of National Poetry Month, he has some excellent offerings around Chapel Hill, especially for young poets. Be sure to check them out!
Durham’s Chris Vitiello, current Durham Poet Laureate, is also known as The Poetry Fox. Maybe you’ve seen him at events writing custom poems on the spot; he always has his trusty typewriter with him. In addition to poet laureate duties, he writes for INDY Week in Durham, holds workshops, and has published three books of poetry. To learn more about the specific workshops he offers for different age groups, click here.
Recently nominated as poet laureate in Greensboro, James Daniels is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at NC A&T. He’ll be large and in charge until December 2028, so we have plenty of time to come through and see his work. Daniels wants to focus on community programs that foster connections among individual artists and groups. At A&T, he helps coordinate the Aggie Poet Laureate program.
Jay Ward is the inaugural poet laureate in Charlotte. He’s a poetry slam champion. He became interested in poetry in elementary school and quickly realized he can make it his own, free of rhymes and on any topic he chooses. Check out his poem “Gentrification” for a taste of his work.
Amal Kassir is the current Hillsborough Poet Laureate, and is quite the presence. Watch her perform her piece “Broken Arabic” for an intensely evocative introduction to her as an artist. She created a community for writers, House of Amal, to connect writers around the world. Follow her on Instagram to get updates about upcoming workshops, events, and performances.
[Insert Your Name Here]?
Raleigh is currently accepting applications for their inaugural Poet Laureate through April 17, 2026. You must be a resident of Raleigh and at least 21 to apply.
The Bottom Line
We hope you will take the time to explore a few, or even all, of the NC poets on our list. Did you find a new favorite collection or poet? Maybe they gave you just the right new take on a draft poem that’s been sitting ignored in your notes app for ages. Get those revisions locked in and send your work our way! And don’t forget to tell the K-12 students in your life about our inaugural poetry contest that closes on April 30th.
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