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A New Stanza For NC Poetry

North Carolina's new poet laureate, Shelby Stephenson, will be installed Monday, February 2, 2015. 

His appointment comes nearly six months after the previous poet laureate, Valerie Macon, resigned amid controversy over her unconventional selection. Stephenson is a retired English professor, magazine editor and current member of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Stephenson about his life growing up on a tobacco farm near Benson, NC, his musical idol, Hank Williams, and his plans to help nursing home residents express themselves through poetry. 

Stephenson is one of many North Carolina Poet Laureates to be on The State of Things. To listen to past interviews with Joseph Bathanti and Kay Byerfollow the links!

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Hady Mawajdeh is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He listened to Fresh Air growing up and fell in love with public radio. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication at Texas State University and specialized in electronic media. He worked at NPR affiliate stations KUT and KUTX in Austin, Texas as an intern, producer, social media coordinator, and a late-night deejay.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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