Shelby Stephenson

Shelby Stephenson served as Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 2015-2018. Recent books: Elegies for Small Game (Press 53), winner of Roanoke-Chowan Award; Family Matters: Homage to July, the Slave Girl (Bellday Books), the Bellday Prize; Paul’s Hill: Homage to Whitman (Sir Walter Press); Our World (Press 53); Fiddledeedee (The Bunny and the Crocodile Press; reprinted byPress 53); Nin’s Poem (St. Andrews University Press); and Slavery and Freedom on Paul’s Hill (Press 53).

He is a member of the Society of Distinguished Alumni, Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as a Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina-Pembrok. He served as Editor of Pembroke Magazine from 1979 until his retirement in 2010. He lives at the homeplace on Paul’s Hill, where he was born, near McGee’s Crossroads, about ten miles northwest of Benson, North Carolina.

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