The NC State Philanthropy Podcast · NC State University

Episode 24: Wolfpack Writing, With Belle Boggs

·32 min·3 clips

High school students were brought to tears seeing their poetry projected in 360 degrees at NC State's Hill Library.

This episode features host Taylor Pardue in conversation with Belle Boggs, a fiction and nonfiction writer and former director of NC State's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. Boggs discusses how philanthropic support directly enables the program's community outreach, student opportunities, and public events. The program recruits graduate students from across the globe, including countries like Bangladesh, England, and Nigeria, enriching the classroom perspective. A key initiative is the Teaching Artist Practicum, where students design and teach creative writing workshops in community spaces like the Oberlin Library and Jordan High School in Durham. These outreach efforts culminated in a professionally printed, multilingual anthology featuring student work and lesson reflections. Philanthropy, notably a transformative gift from the Brown family, funds such projects, along with a public reading series that has hosted writers like Percival Everett, Sharon Olds, and former U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. Another donor, alumna Jane Craven, established a fund to help graduate students afford travel to major conferences like the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP). A memorable outreach moment involved bringing high school students from a sheltered English class to NC State's campus for a tour, a poetry display in Hill Library, and a writing session in the university greenhouses. The program also runs free, statewide fiction and poetry contests for North Carolina residents who have not yet published a book. Private gifts allow the program to pay student interns at local presses and provide honorariums for visiting writers, which state funds often cannot cover. Boggs reveals she is beginning a fellowship at the National Humanities Center to work on a nonfiction book about the history of school buses in American education. She also co-wrote a children's book about houseplants with her daughter, featuring interviews with NC State scientists. The program's faculty help students navigate the professional aspects of writing, from time management to submitting work for publication. The tone is conversational, enthusiastic, and deeply appreciative, focusing on educational impact and community connection. Listeners interested in creative writing pedagogy, public university outreach, or the mechanics of philanthropic support in the arts will find this episode compelling. Those seeking a debate-driven or critically analytical discussion of higher education may find it too celebratory in nature.

As heard by us

A focused look at how private support helps a creative writing program teach, write, and host free public readings.

The piece centers on Belle Boggs as the former director of NC State's Master of Fine Arts and Creative Writing program, and it keeps its attention on how private support helps move that program forward.

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Why you'd press play

See how private support helps an MFA and Creative Writing program keep teaching, writing, and free readings going.

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