Prize Winners' Poems, First Book Award, Poetry Coalition Inaugural Fellows

September 29, 2020

Poems by Recipients of the 2020 American Poets Prizes

Last week, the Academy announced the recipients of the 2020 American Poets Prizes. Read some of the winners’ poems on Poets.org:

“The Prestige” by Hanif Abdurraqib
“Heritage Emissary” by Threa Almontaser
“The Lyric Theatre: Lyceum of Dreams” by Nikky Finney
“The Kitchen, Indexed” by Ira Goga
“Kabira” by Rajiv Mohabir
“from ‘Post-Identity'” by Carmen Giménez Smith

Academy of American Poets First Book Award

Submissions are open for the 2021 Academy of American Poets First Book Award, the nation’s most generous first-book prize for poetry, judged by Claudia Rankine. The winner will receive $5,000 and a six-week all-expenses-paid residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Italy, and the winning manuscript will be published by Graywolf Press in 2022. Submit by November 16.

The Poetry Coalition Presents its 2020–⁠2021 Fellows

The Poetry Coalition, a network of 25+ poetry organizations coordinated by the Academy of American Poets, is pleased to present its inaugural cohort of the Poetry Coalition Fellowship program. These five individuals have been selected to receive paid fellowships, each at a different host organization within the Poetry Coalition: CantoMundo, Cave Canem, Kundiman, Mizna, and Split This Rock.

Watch Selina Nwulu read her poem “Miracles,” as part of Adrian Brinkerhoff Foundation’s Words We Share series, directed by Matthew Thompson and produced in collaboration with Poet in the City, UK.

National Poetry Month Poster Competition for Students

The Academy of American Poets invites students in grades 9 through 12 to enter artwork to be considered for the 2021 National Poetry Month poster competition. The winner will be selected by judges Maira Kalman, renowned illustrator, and Renée Watson, New York Times-bestselling Young Adult author and poet. The winning artwork will be printed on 100,000+ copies of the official poster in 2021, the twenty-fifth anniversary of National Poetry Month, and will be distributed for free to teachers, families, schools, libraries, and classrooms nationwide.

In Case You Missed Books Noted Live

On Friday, September 25, the Academy of American Poets presented Books Noted Live, a virtual reading and discussion series featuring two poets with new or forthcoming books. Last week, Books Noted Live featured Tyree Daye, author of Cardinal, forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press, and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Age of Phillis, which was long-listed for the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry. RSVP for the next Books Noted Live event which will be held on October 9, featuring Aditi Machado and Pamela Sneed.

Spanish Manuscript and Translation Prizes

The Academy of American Poets is accepting submissions for the Ambroggio Prize, given to a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation; the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year; and the Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship, given for the translation into English of a significant work of modern Italian poetry. Submissions are open from September 15 through February 15, 2021.

Opportunities for Poets

The Academy of American Poets is currently accepting applications for a part-time Advertising & Marketing Internship which will begin in January 2021. The intern will assist the Advertising and Marketing Department with several tasks including promoting books and programs by literary magazines, presses, conferences, and organizations.
Bookends and Beginnings in Evanston, Illinois, is seeking full-time Booksellers to handle inventory management, backlist ordering, used book processing, event planning, and more. To apply, email a resume to jobs@bookendsandbeginnings.com.
CantoMundo in Tucson, Arizona, is seeking a Program Director to work closely with the Poetry Coalition Fellow, the Poetry Center, and the CantoMundo Advisory Board to organize the annual CantoMundo retreat, to be held fully online in June 2021.
University of Georgia Press in Athens, Georgia, is seeking a full-time Assistant to the Director to provide administrative support.

David Tomas Martinez Recommends a Poem from our Archives

“‘My Father’ by Chicanx poet, Francisco X. Alarcón, places the speaker of the poem opposite, yet adjacent, to the father for a lunch. Traditionally, meals are seats of camaraderie, but in this poem the meal is a truce, not between people but between ideals.”

—David Tomas Martinez, author of Post Traumatic Hood Disorder, and Poem-a-Day Guest Editor through October 13th.

Last Week’s Poem-a-Day

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

September 20: “A Portrait in Greys” by William Carlos Williams
September 21: “Battlegrounds” by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo
September 22: “Maine Yet Miami” by Richard Blanco
September 23: “The Five Horses of Doctor Ramón Emeterio Betances” by Martín Espada
September 24: “So They Say— They Finally Nailed— the Proton’s Size— & Hope— Dies—” by Rosebud Ben-Oni
September 25: “Black Parade” by Darrel Alejandro Holnes
September 26: “Trial Run” by Yau Ching, translated by Chenxin Jiang

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Prize Winners' Poems, First Book Award, Poetry Coalition Inaugural Fellows

Poems by Recipients of the 2020 American Poets Prizes

Academy of American Poets First Book Award

The Poetry Coalition Presents its 2020–⁠2021 Fellows

National Poetry Month Poster Competition for Students

In Case You Missed Books Noted Live

Spanish Manuscript and Translation Prizes

Opportunities for Poets

David Tomas Martinez Recommends a Poem from our Archives

Last Week’s Poem-a-Day

Older messages

"In Praise of Dreams" by Gary Soto

"Anniversary" by Diannely Antigua

"The Teller of Tales" by Gabriela Mistral, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin

"Trail Run" by Yau Ching, translated by Chenxin Jiang

"Black Parade" by Darrel Alejandro Holnes

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