Orange, Durham and Wake counties’ art councils named their latest Piedmont Laureate in December: creative nonfiction writer Steven Petrow.
Petrow, who lives in Hillsborough, is a columnist for The Washington Post and USA Today, as well as an accomplished author of seven books with an eighth on the way this fall. He recently joined 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck as one of his first interviews after entering the role, detailing some of the ideas he hopes to bring to Triangle residents in 2024 and sharing how his personal experiences are helping inspire him.
To listen to the full interview between Aaron Keck and Steven Petrow, click here. Below is a transcript that’s been lightly edited for clarity.
Aaron Keck: This news came down for you right at the end of last year. What were your immediate thoughts when you heard?
Steven Petrow: Well, the Piedmont Laureate program has been something that I’ve had my eye on in a certain way for many years, because of the really great work that previous Piedmont Laureates have done. I’m thinking about Jaki Shelton Green and John Claude Bemis, and the 13 or 14 predecessors that I have. Basically, our role is to promote reading and writing in a three county area. The program is sponsored by several arts councils, including the Orange County Arts Commission, Raleigh Arts, Durham Arts Council, and the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. So, I’m really pleased to be working in these three counties and devising programs that will bring books and authors to people.
Keck: You’re still very much in the orientation stage — what have you learned about the position so far?
Petrow: Yeah, as we’re taping this, I’m on day four [of the role], and I’m still working on the plan for 2024. But I did meet with representatives from those several agencies right before Christmas and started to outline what I hope to do. And I’ll tell you, Aaron, a fundamental reason that I wanted to be the Piedmont Laureate — and I’m not gonna be shy about that — is because I feel like reading is a way that we can bridge fractures in our communities and in the society, by learning to be more empathetic about characters in books. There’s actually science about this…that kind of empathy then extends to real people. And so I really see this program has a force to create stronger community, stronger community goodwill, and to use literature — specifically nonfiction, as that is really my [expertise] — to accomplish this.
Keck: I love that focus, that larger mission. What are some of the things you plan to do over the next 12 months to make that happen?
Petrow: Well, I’m fortunate to be the first queer Piedmont Laureate and, as such, as we get toward Pride Month here in North Carolina and in the Triangle, I’m looking to put together a writer series of queer, LGBTQ+ authors in each of these counties. To use my fellow writers to talk about not only their work, what means to be a queer writer, as well as the influence they think they may or may not have had on their readers. Usually they feel —and I feel certainly too — that we have powerful influences on readers. How do we do more of that, and also stay true to the kind of art that we want to create? So that’s kind of one bucket, and that’s a big one.
The second is… for many years now, I have been a volunteer with a cancer hospital in New York, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I am a former cancer patient, and it’s a program called Visible Ink, which matches writers with patients and gives patients the opportunity to talk about how they’re feeling going through treatment. In many cases, including my own, it’s an isolating experience. Even when we know other family members or other loved ones who have been diagnosed with a cancer, experiences are so individual — and it can be very powerful to have the room and to be able to create and express yourself around your feelings.
So, I’ve been doing that in a one-on-one situation through that hospital, but I’m planning to talk with the hospitals here about doing something similar. Because I think there’s also a healing aspect that reading brings to us as well as, honestly, pure escapism. We can travel very far when we open a book or download a book and actually not have to leave the confines of our home or the hospital — which is a real plus when you’re in a challenging situation like that.
Keck: As we start to wrap up, if people want to follow you this year, they want more information about the work that you’re going to be doing and how they can get involved…where should they go? What should they do?
Petrow: We’re still working on that! But certainly people can reach me through my website, stevenpetrow.com, and I will be blogging on the various arts council pages — but we have not quite set that up yet. So, stay tuned folks!
Featured photo by Bethany Cubino.
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