Geffrey Davis Awarded 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize
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Geffrey Davis, winner of the 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize[/caption]
Rochester, NY — Geffrey Davis is the 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize winner for his first collection of poems, Revising the Storm. Dorianne Laux selected this manuscript and will write a Foreword to the published collection. Davis will receive a $1,500 honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in April 2014, in the A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America Series.
An annual competition, the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize is open to poets who have yet to publish a full-length-book collection of poetry. This year’s runner-ups were Miss Lost Nation by Bethany Hurst and Bawl Ass by Sarah Wangler. Geffrey Davis’ winning manuscript was chosen from a field of more than 600 entries.
Of the collection, Dorianne Laux says: “Revising the Storm is one of the best first books I've read in a good while. Its subjects—childhood, an absentee father, marriage, divorce, re-marriage, birth—are not new, but the approach is fresh, the language lyrical, and the poems well-tuned and masterfully wrought. Geffrey Davis is spellbinding. Like a fine artist, he knows how to bring even the smallest heartbreaking detail to light.”
BOA Editions will accept manuscripts for the 13th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize between August 1, 2013 and November 30, 2013. An entry form and fee are required. The guidelines and final judge for the 2014 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize will be announced on www.boaeditions.org later this year.
Geffrey Davis holds an MFA from Penn State University, where he’s also writing a doctoral dissertation on 20th- and 21st-century American poetics. He is a Cave Canem Fellow and recipient of the Wabash Prize for Poetry and the Leonard Steinberg Memorial/Academy of American Poets Prize. He is also Co-Founder and Co-Editor of the online journal Toe Good Poetry. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Crazyhorse, Dogwood: Journal of Poetry and Prose, Mid-American Review, Sycamore Review, Wisconsin Review, and other journals. He considers the Puget Sound area "home" though he's been raised by much more of the Pacific Northwest and now by central Pennsylvania as well.
Dorianne Laux’s most recent collections are The Book of Men and Facts about the Moon, both from W.W. Norton. A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize, the Oregon Book Award, and The Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry, Laux is also the author of Awake (her first book of poetry), What We Carry, and Smoke from BOA Editions. Laux’s poetry has appeared in numerous American journals and anthologies, and she has received poetry fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches poetry in the MFA Program at North Carolina State University and is founding faculty at Pacific University’s Low Residency MFA Program.
BOA Editions, Ltd. is one of the premier independent publishers of contemporary poetry and literary fiction. Founded in 1976 by A. Poulin, Jr. to provide a venue for both new and established poets to be published, BOA has released more than 270 titles, including two dozen books of poetry in translation. Many BOA titles and authors have been recognized with literary awards, including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
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