Jaki Shelton Green is currently the ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolina. In 2022, she was recognized by the Forbes Magazine 50 Over 50 Lifestyle List, 2021 UNC Chapel Hill Frank B. Hanes Writer in Residence, 2019 Academy of American Poet Laureate Fellow, 2019 NC Humanities Council Caldwell Award, 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointment, and 2003 recipient of the NC Award for Literature. She recently retired from teaching Documentary Poetry at the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies.