Shelby Stephenson, NC Poet Laureate, Visits Ashe County

In recognition of National Poetry Month, Ashe Library has invited Shelby Stephenson, our state poet to visit next weekend. The library would also like to extend that invitation to the community and welcome all to meet the poet at a Potluck Poetry Picnic & Pickin’ Party in the Park. Shelby has a reputation as one of the finest poets of eastern North Carolina, and is also a talented singer / guitarist. The gathering takes place from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Friday, April 21. Shelby has a published collection of poetry surrounding old family recipes, and the idea is to cook up some of these tasty dishes and hear about his family reminisces through stories and poems. Shelby also loves to jam with other musicians, so please bring your instruments with you to help out with the pickin’ and grinnin’.

Author Margaret Maron, wrote about her cousin Shelby in a program for the North Carolina Literary Hall, “He sings country music, but his poetry reminds me of jazz. Give him a word or a phrase—Mason jars, possum, clawhammer banjo, sweetgum balls—and he will launch into a stream-of-consciousness those words evoke, like John Coltrane or Charlie Parker riffing on a familiar tune, circling and circling before homing back in on the basic melody.”

At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday April 22, Ashe Little Theater, an all-volunteers group, will perform a Reader’s Theater of “Maytle’s World” a play written by Shelby, as a poetic memoir of North Carolina’s agricultural heritage and the role of country music in family life, set at the farm in McGee’s Crossroads where Stephenson grew up. This is a free event and will take place at the Backstreet Concert Pavilion (rain location in the library’s meeting room). Following the morning play, Shelby will greet and award the county’s 5^th and 6^th grade poetry contest winners at a noon reception in the library. 

 

Poet’s brief bio: Shelby was born in 1938 and raised on his family’s farm in Benson, North Carolina. He is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and spent some time as a disc jockey at WTVD-TV in Durham, NC and WMPM radio in Smithfield. Throughout his career, he has chaired the English Department at Buies Creek, NC and served as editor of University of North Carolina’s Pembroke Magazine.