Penny's poetry pages Wiki
in: Articles using Wikipedia text, Articles with authority control information, Imported, created, or updated in 2015,
and 19 more

Kathryn Stripling Byer

Edit
Kathryn Stripling Byer 2

Kathryn Stripling Byer in 2012. Photo by ted. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Kathryn Stripling Byer
File:Kathryn Stripling Byer.jpg
Byer Accepting an award from the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2012
Occupation Poet
Genres poetry, essays
Notable award(s) North Carolina Poet Laureate
Spouse(s) Jim Byer
Children 1

Kathryn Stripling "Kay" Byer (born 1944) is an American poet and teacher. She was named as the 5th poet laureate of North Carolina, the first woman to hold the position.

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Kathryn Stripling was born in Camilla, Georgia, to Bernice (Campbell) and farmer C.M. Stripling.[1] Byer went on to graduate with a bachelors in English from Macon, Georgia's Wesleyan College[2][3] and then received her M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. There she studied under Allen Tate, Fred Chappell, and Robert W. Watson.[4] During this time at UNC-G, Byer decided to move to the mountains of North Carolina.[1]

Career[]

After receiving her M.F.A., Byer became poet-in-residence at Western Carolina University, 1988–98, as well as UNC-G in 1995 and Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1999.[1] She has published six full collections of poetry as well as some chapbooks. Her most recent collection is Descent published in 2012 by Louisiana State University Press.[5]

Some of Byer's poetry have appeared in Arts Journal, The Carolina Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Hudson Review, The Iowa Review, Nimrod, Poetry, and The Southern Review.[3]

As part of her outreach program during her term as poet laureate, Byer maintained "My Laureate's Lasso", a blog that focused on North Carolina poets and poetry.[6] She was also the judge for the North Carolina Poetry Society's Poet Laureate Award.[7][8]

Private life[]

Byer is married to Western Carolina University professor Jim Byer. They have one daughter, and live in Cullowhee, North Carolina.[1]

Writing[]

Her work often deals with lives and hardships of western North Carolina mountain inhabitants, especially women, in earlier generations.[4]

Recognition[]

In 2005, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley appointed Byer to be the 5th North Carolina Poet Laureate. She was the first woman to hold the position.[9]

Awards and honors[]

  • 1992 – Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets
  • 1998 – Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry[10]
  • 2001 – Emory and Henry College's Kathryn Stripling Byer Literary Festival
  • 2001 – North Carolina Award in Literature[11]
  • 2003 – SIBA Book Award in Poetry for Catching Light
  • 2005–2009 – North Carolina Poet Laureate [12]
  • 2012 – inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame[13][14]
  • 2013 – SIBA Book Award in Poetry for Descent

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Search Party: Poem. Brooklyn, NY: Amicae Press, 1979.
  • Alma: Poems. Phoenix Press, 1983.
  • The Girl in the Midst of the Harvest. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech Press, 1986; Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2013.
  • Kitchen Sink. New Market, TN: Mill Springs Press, 1987.
  • Wildwood Flower: Poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1992.
  • Black Shawl: Poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1998.
  • Evelyn: Poems and photographs (with photos by Louanne K. Watley). Raleigh, NC: TypEsthetics, 1999.
  • Catching Light: Poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
  • Wake (chapbook). Sylva, NC: Spring Street Editions, 2003).
  • Piece of Cake. [Raleigh?], NC: [North Carolina Arts Council?], 2005.
  • Coming to Rest: Poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2006.
  • Southern Fictions (sonnet chapbook). Durham, NC: Jacar Press, 2011.
  • Descent: Poems. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2012.

Edited[]

  • Gatherings: A collection of North Carolina poetry (edited with Fred Chappell). Sylva, NC: Spring Street Editions, 2001.
  • The Movable Nest: A mother/daughter companion (edited with Marilyn Kallet). Kansas City, MO: Helicon Nine Editions, 2007.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[15]

Essays[]

Kathryn_Stripling_Byer_Reads_"Wide_Open_These_Gates"

Kathryn Stripling Byer Reads "Wide Open These Gates"

Some of Byer's most notable essays include:[1]

  • "Turning the Windlass at the Well: Fred Chappell's Early Poetry" in Dream Garden: The Poetic Vision of Fred Chappell (1997)
  • "Deep Water" in Bloodroot: Reflections on Place by Appalachian Women Writers (1998)

See also[]


Preceded by
Fred Chappell 		North Carolina Poet Laureate
2005-2009 		Succeeded by
Cathy Smith Bowers

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Prestridge, Sam. "Kathryn Stripling Byer (b. 1944)". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-505. Retrieved November 8, 2012. 
  2. ↑ "Raleigh ceremony to celebrate Byer's selection as poet laureate". The Sylva Herald and Ruralite. June 9, 2005. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kWxlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AZQNAAAAIBAJ&dq=north-carolina-poet-laureate&pg=920%2C4882859. Retrieved November 8, 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Kathryn Stripling Byer". Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/76. Retrieved November 8, 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Eubanks, Georgann (2007). Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-8078-5833-2. 
  5. ↑ Vitiello, Chris (October 31, 2012). "Kay Byer, the N.C. Literary Hall of Fame and this weekend's N.C. Writers' Network conference". Independent Weekly. http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/kay-byer-the-nc-literary-hall-of-fame-and-this-weekends-nc-writers-network-conference/Content?oid=3181954. Retrieved November 14, 2012. 
  6. ↑ "My Laureate's Lasso". Kathryn Stripling Byer. http://www.ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com/. Retrieved November 14, 2012. 
  7. ↑ "Annual Adult Poetry Contest Judges". North Carolina Poetry Society. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090629192836/http://www.sleepycreek.org/poetry/judgesadult.htm. Retrieved 14 November 2012. 
  8. ↑ "Adult Contests and Awards". North Carolina Poetry Society. http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/adultcontests/. Retrieved November 5, 2012. 
  9. ↑ "Past North Carolina Poets Laureate". North Carolina Arts Council. http://www.ncarts.org/freeform_scrn_template.cfm?ffscrn_id=177&. Retrieved November 5, 2012. 
  10. ↑ "North Carolina Book Awards". North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/affiliates/lit-hist/awards/awards.htm. Retrieved November 14, 2012. 
  11. ↑ "Literature". North Carolina Award recipients. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/digital/ncawards/literature.html. Retrieved November 14, 2012. 
  12. ↑ "Past North Carolina Poet Laureates". North Carolina Arts Council. http://www.ncarts.org/Resources/NorthCarolinaPoetLaureate/PastPoetLaureates.aspx. 
  13. ↑ "North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame Induction Set for October 14". North Carolina Writers' Network. July 12, 2012. http://www.ncwriters.org/news/network-news/2539-north-carolina-literary-hall-of-fame-induction-set-for-october-14. Retrieved November 14, 2012. 
  14. ↑ "North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame 2012 Induction Program". University Library University of North Carolina. October 14, 2012. https://archive.org/details/northcarolinalit2012. Retrieved October 13, 2014. 
  15. ↑ Search results = au:Kathryn Stripling Byer, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 27, 2015.

External links[]

Poems
Audio / video
About
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia. (view article). (view authors).
Authority control
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.