Kay Byer Explained

Kay Byer
Birth Name:	Kathryn Stripling
Birth Date:	1944 11, mf=yes
Birth Place:	Camilla, Georgia, U.S.
Death Place:	Cullowhee, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation:	Poet
Alma Mater:	Wesleyan College, B.A. UNC-Greensboro, M.F.A.
Genre:	Poetry, essays
Awards:	North Carolina Poet Laureate
Spouse:	Jim Byer
Children:	1

Kathryn Stripling Byer (November 25, 1944 – June 5, 2017), also called Kay Byer, was an American poet and teacher. She was named by Governor Mike 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]

She 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, where 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. Descent was published in 2012 by Louisiana State University Press.^[5] In 2015 The Vishnu Bird was published by Jacar Press.^[6]

Poet laureateship

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]

Works

Some of Byer's poetry appeared in, among other periodicals, The Carolina Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Hudson Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry, and The Southern Review. Her work often dealt with lives and hardships of western North Carolina mountain inhabitants, especially women, in earlier generations.^[4]

Books

Byer's books include:

• The Girl in the Midst of the Harvest (1986), Associated Writing Programs award series
• Wildwood Flower (1992)
• Black Shawl (1998)
• Catching Light (Louisiana State University Press, 2002)
• Wake (chapbook, 2003)
• Coming to Rest (Louisiana State University Press, 2006)
• The Movable Nest: A Mother/Daughter Companion as co-editor with Kallet, Marilyn (Helicon Nine Editions, 2007)
• Southern Fictions (sonnet chapbook; Jacar Press, 2011)
• Descent (Louisiana State University Press, 2012)
• The Vishnu Bird (Jacar Press, 2015)

Essays

Some of Byer's most notable essays include:

• "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)

Awards and honors

• 1992 – Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets
• 1998 – Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry^[14]
• 2001 – Emory and Henry College's Kathryn Stripling Byer Literary Festival
• 2001 – North Carolina Award in Literature^[15]
• 2003 – SIBA Book Award in Poetry for Catching Light
• 2005–2009 – North Carolina Poet Laureate ^[16]
• 2012 – inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame^{[17] [18]}
• 2013 – SIBA Book Award in Poetry for Descent

External links

• • Here Where I Am Blog

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia: Prestridge. Sam. Kathryn Stripling Byer (b. 1944). The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. November 8, 2012. February 1, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130201014715/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-505. dead.
2. News: Raleigh ceremony to celebrate Byer's selection as poet laureate. November 8, 2012. The Sylva Herald and Ruralite. June 9, 2005.
3. Web site: Kathryn Stripling Byer. Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. November 8, 2012.
4. Book: Eubanks, Georgann. Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains. 2007. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 50. 978-0-8078-5833-2.
5. News: Vitiello. Chris. Kay Byer, the N.C. Literary Hall of Fame and this weekend's N.C. Writers' Network conference. November 14, 2012. Independent Weekly. October 31, 2012.
6. https://www.citylightsnc.com/book/9780989795272 Bookstore
7. Web site: Past North Carolina Poets Laureate . North Carolina Arts Council. November 5, 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121027233637/http://www.ncarts.org/freeform_scrn_template.cfm?ffscrn_id=177&. October 27, 2012.
8. Web site: My Laureate's Lasso. Kathryn Stripling Byer. November 14, 2012.
9. Web site: Annual Adult Poetry Contest Judges. North Carolina Poetry Society. 14 November 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20090629192836/http://www.sleepycreek.org/poetry/judgesadult.htm. June 29, 2009.
10. Web site: Adult Contests and Awards. North Carolina Poetry Society. November 5, 2012.
11. Web site: NC English Teachers Association Writing Awards. Kathryn Stripling. Byer. March 9, 2009.
12. Web site: My Laureate's Lasso: KATHERINE INDERMAUR: 2008 Student Poet Laureate Winner. Kathryn Stripling. Byer. March 24, 2009.
13. Kathryn Stripling Byer dies; leaves literary legacy by Quintin Ellison of the Sylva Herald, June 8, 2017, accessed January 21, 2024, website, https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2017/06/08/kathryn-stripling-byer-dies-leaves-literary-legacy/102622684/
14. Web site: North Carolina Book Awards. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. November 14, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120918170927/http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/affiliates/lit-hist/awards/awards.htm. September 18, 2012. dead.
15. Web site: Literature. North Carolina Award recipients. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. November 14, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121228055030/http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/digital/ncawards/literature.html. December 28, 2012. dead.
16. Web site: Past North Carolina Poet Laureates. North Carolina Arts Council.
17. Web site: North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame Induction Set for October 14. North Carolina Writers' Network. November 14, 2012. July 12, 2012. https://archive.today/20130415100821/http://www.ncwriters.org/news/network-news/2539-north-carolina-literary-hall-of-fame-induction-set-for-october-14. April 15, 2013. dead.
18. Web site: North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame 2012 Induction Program. University Library University of North Carolina. October 13, 2014. October 14, 2012.