Kathryn Stripling Byer (November 25, 1944 – June 5, 2017), also called Kay Byer, was an American poet and teacher. She was named by
GovernorMike Easley as the fifth
North Carolina Poet Laureate from 2005 to 2009. She was the first woman to hold the position.
Biography
Early life and education
Kathryn Stripling was born in
Camilla, Georgia in 1944. Her parents were C.M. Stripling, a farmer, and his wife, Bernice (née Campbell) Stripling.[1]
In 2005, North Carolina Governor
Michael Easley appointed Byer to be the state's fifth
poet laureate following
Fred Chappell whose term ended in 2002. She was the first woman to hold the position.[7]
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.[8] She was also the judge for the North Carolina Poetry Society's Poet Laureate Award.[9][10] In 2008, Byer named
Katherine Indermaur as the first North Carolina Student Poet Laureate.[11][12]
Personal life
Kathryn Stripling married Western Carolina University professor Jim Byer. They had one daughter and last lived in
Cullowhee, North Carolina.[1]
Death
Kathryn Stripling Byer died at the age of 72 in Cullowhee on June 5, 2017, from
lymphoma.[13]
^
abcdePrestridge, Sam.
"Kathryn Stripling Byer (b. 1944)". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. Archived from
the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
^
abcEubanks, Georgann (2007). Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. p. 50.
ISBN978-0-8078-5833-2.
^"Literature". North Carolina Award recipients. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Archived from
the original on December 28, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012.