Tamara Kissane, a Durham-based dramatist and audio fiction writer, has been selected as the region’s 2020 Piedmont Laureate. During 2020, Kissane will appear at workshops, reading programs and speaking engagements throughout Wake, Durham and Orange counties. The Piedmont Laureate program is dedicated to building a literary bridge for residents to come together and celebrate the… Read More →
piedmont laureate
Down on Copperline: Libba Cotten/Cat’s Cradle
Featured photo by Daniel Coston By David Menconi It’s been well over a century since the late great Elizabeth “Libba” Cotten was born in what is now Carrboro, but you can still find traces of the Piedmont blues legend’s wonder years in her old hometown. A bike trail bears her name, and there’s a historical… Read More →
Piedmont Laureate Presents: How to Cover Politics and Stay Sane, An Election-Year Preview
The Orange County Arts Commission and Piedmont Laureate David Menconi Present: How to Cover Politics and Stay Sane: An Election-Year Preview Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7pm Chapel Hill Library In today’s increasingly divisive political climate, how do reporters cover politics while maintaining clarity, honoring industry ethics standards and, more importantly, keeping their sanity? And how are… Read More →
The 2020 Piedmont Laureate Program is Seeking Playwrights and Screenwriters
The Piedmont Laureate program is accepting applications from writers of plays, musicals and screenplays (for film, television and video games). Authors must be residents of Wake, Durham or Orange counties. The deadline to apply is October 7, 2019 by midnight. The primary goal of the Piedmont Laureate program is “to promote awareness and heighten appreciation… Read More →
Piedmont Laureate presents, a History of Triangle Labels: A MRG30 Preview
Durham-based Merge Records will mark its 30-year anniversary in July with MRG30, but the history of Triangle record companies goes back much longer than that. Join 2019 Piedmont Laureate David Menconi for a program about the history of record companies in the Triangle, going all the way back to blues pickers in the 1930s. Players… Read More →