Chad Knuth (he/him) serves as the VP of Programming for the North Carolina Poetry Society, and as a Poets Council Member for the Town of Carrboro, NC. He is a recipient of the Poetry Society of Virginia’s Carleton Drewry Memorial Award, and his work has been anthologized in The Nature of Our Times (Paloma Press, 2025) and Kakalak (Moonshine Review Press, 2025),and is featured in The Crawfish, Digest Magazine,and Ponder Review, among others. He is an MFA candidate at UNC-Greensboro, where he serves as Managing Editor of The Greensboro Review. You can find him at chadknuth.com.
Our Communications Intern, Angie Horne, asked VP of Programming Chad Knuth questions about his tenure at NCPS and poetry in North Carolina. Below is a sneak peek at the interview. For the full text, look for the Spring 2026 Pine Whispers in your mailbox toward the end of April. Pine Whispers is mailed to all members. If you’re not yet a member and would like to be, please see our Membership Page.
I observed that you often recite poetry from great North Carolina poets, such as Tyree Daye and more. From an artistic stance, what do you believe shines through North Carolina poetry that you can’t find anywhere else?
During my time immersed in North Carolina’s poetry scene, I feel that what I’ve been struck with the most are the performances. I’m not sure if it’s complete happenstance or something more location based, but the Triangle in particular is home to some incredible performance poets—some that come to mind are Dasan Ahanu, CJ Suitt, Meg Day, Gideon Young, and Gary Phillips. During my time as both an organizer and a writer, performances from these poets and many others have shaped both the way that I write and read my own work, as well as what I hope to experience when attending readings here or elsewhere.
Watch your mailbox later this month for the full interview text.