NC Literary Trails: Piedmont

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Moved to Winston-Salem in 1981.
• Taught at Wake Forest University.
• The Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity at Wake Forest School of Medicine is named after her.
• Recipient of the North Carolina Award in Literature in 1987.
• WUNC North Carolina Public Radio article on Angelou's time in North Carolina.
• Wake Forest University remembers Angelou's time at the university and her legacy.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2012.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Born in Statesville, NC.
• Attended UNC-Greensboro.
• Served as Assistant Dean of the Honors Program in the English Department at UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Died in her home in Pittsboro, NC.
• North Carolina Writers' Network sponsors the Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
• UNC remembers Betts.
• The Carolina Story: A Virtual Museum of University History (UNC) entry for Betts.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Grew up in Montreat, NC.
• Attended Davidson College.
• Wrote for the Charlotte Observer and won an investigative reporting award from the North Carolina Press Association.
• Cornwell's novel Hornet's Nest is set in Charlotte.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Enrolled at Elizabeth City State Teachers College for two years. 
• Haley's ancestors settled in North Carolina's Alamance County in the 19th century (Part of his novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family.)
• Greensboro News & Observer article about Haley's North Carolina roots.
• His father attended NC A&T.
• Haley Hall at NC A&T University named after late author.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Born in Durham, NC.
• Lives in Rowan County, which inspired the setting of his his novels The King of Lies and Down River.
• Attended Davidson College.
• Recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature in 2013.

Biographical Information

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• Visited NC and gave talks at UNC and in Asheville.
• Became friends with Nina Simone after addressing Allen High School in Asheville.

Biographical Information

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• Taught at North Carolina Central University.
• Was a  "secret student" at UNC.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice is located in Durham.
• Read more about Murray's impact as an activist.
• Murray and 20th Century Freedom Movements.
• Murray family home in Durham designated a National Historic Landmark on December 23, 2016 and has a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.
• Read some of Murray's poems from the Poetry Foundation.
• Murray was the first African American woman ordained to the Episcopal priesthood. In 2012, Murray was named to Holy Women, Holy Men by the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church and became an Episcopal saint.
• WUNC interview with Patricia Bell-Scott, scholar of women's studies and black feminism, who wrote the introduction for Murray's posthumous memoir.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Born in Macon, NC, in Warren County.
• Received a full scholarship to Duke University, served as editor of its literary magazine, and graduated summa cum laude.
• Returned to Duke after his time at Oxford University and taught in the English Department for over 50 years.
• Price's obituary from Duke Today.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2002.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Grew up in Raleigh in Wake County.
• Went to East Carolina University, but didn't graduate.
• North Carolina Arts Council's interview with Sedaris.
• Has property on Emerald Isle, North Carolina.
• Read Sedaris' memories of growing up in Raleigh.
• His book, Calypso, is set primarily around the Emerald Isle.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Worked in Chapel Hill and wrote radio plays with Earl Wynn and acted in those plays for the Carolina Playmakers.
• Wrote her most famous book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, living in a one-room house on North Street in Chapel Hill.
• With part of the money she earned from the success of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith set up a fund at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for annual playwriting awards.
• After her success, Smith bought "the old Magnum house" at the corner of Rosemary and Hillsborough Streets and a cottage in Nags Head, NC.
• Although she passed away at a convalescence home in Connecticut in 1972, her funeral mass was held at St. Thomas More Church in Chapel Hill, and she is buried at the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery.

Biographical Information

Relevant Locations and Information

• Taught at Carolina Friends School, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University.
• Lives in Hillsborough, NC.
• Recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature in 1984.
• Read more about Smith's life in her interview with Garden & Gun.
• Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2008.
• NC State's digital exhibit: Lee's Brilliant Career.