Honoring five outstanding young poets with more than
$135,000 in prizes
CHICAGO, Aug. 15,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Poetry Foundation announces
the 2024 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows:
Rob Macaisa Colgate, Marissa Davis, Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras, Chandanie Somwaru, and marion eames white.
Since 1989, the Poetry Foundation has
awarded fellowships to outstanding young poets in
recognition of their current and potential future contributions to
the field. The $27,000 prize makes
the fellowships among the largest awards available to young poets
in the United States. Each fellow
receives a subscription and an invitation to publish in
Poetry magazine. Additionally, the Poetry Foundation will
sponsor their attendance at the Dodge Poetry Festival in
Newark, New Jersey, where they'll
participate in a public reading on October
19, 2024.
"We are so honored to recognize this group of brilliant young
poets with the fellowship," said Adrian Matejka, editor of
Poetry magazine. "Their poetry is exceptional in both
substance and style. It extends beyond the page, too, as they are
each dedicated community members and supporters of our art. My
heartfelt congratulations to the fellows and all the
finalists."
Introducing the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent
Rosenberg Poetry Fellows
Rob Macaisa
Colgate (he/she/they) is a disabled, bakla poet and
playwright. Colgate is the author of the poetry collection
Hardly Creatures and the verse drama My Love is Water. His work has been
published by Best New Poets, American Poetry Review,
and the Academy of American Poets, among others.
Marissa
Davis (she/her) is a poet and translator from
Paducah, Kentucky. In 2023, Davis
received an Emerging Translator Mentorship Fellowship from the
American Literary Translators Association. Her chapbook, My Name
& Other Languages I Am Learning How to Speak was selected
for Cave Canem's 2019 Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Prize.
Davis's poetry has been published in Prairie Schooner,
Poetry, Gulf Coast, and other journals.
Hermelinda Hernandez
Monjaras (she/her) was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and identifies as both an
indígena and an undocumented poet of Zapotecan descent. Her work
has been published in Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the
Undocumented Diaspora; About Place Journal; Small
Press Traffic; and the Academy of American Poets, among
other outlets.
Chandanie Somwaru
(she/her) is an Indo-Caribbean woman born and raised in
Queens, New York. Somwaru earned
an MFA at Queens College, CUNY. She is
the author of Urgent Where the Mind Goes Scattered. Her
writing has been published by the Academy of American Poets,
Honey Literary, Solstice, SWWIM, The
Margins, and other outlets. She was the first runner-up for the
2023 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award.
marion eames white (they//them) is a Black, trans poet
from New York. Their work has been
published by the American Academy of Religion, Stone of Madness
Press, UNICA, and more. white is an interdisciplinary artist
and a scholar of religion. Their poetics combines translation
theory with biblical genealogy to subvert hegemonic Western
traditions and welcome Othered bodies into larger conversations of
sacrality and belonging.
The Poetry Foundation also congratulates the 2024 fellowship
finalists:
- Adedayo Agarau
- Threa Almontaser
- Shlagha Borah
- Isabella DeSendi
- Stefania Gomez
- Abhijit Sarmah
- Kira Alexis Tucker
2024 Decision Process
Each application to the 2024
fellowships was read by two of 30 external readers; then a panel of
five external reviewers read all the top-scoring applications to
select 12 finalists and subsequently, the five fellows.
The Poetry Foundation would like to thank the following readers
and reviewers for their time and careful consideration:
- Eloisa Amezcua
- Rosemary Barilla
- Esther Belin
- Cynthia Borah
- Emily Brandt
- CM Burroughs
- Asia Calcagno
- Imani Cezanne
- Juan Delgado
- t'ai freedom ford
- Tere Fowler-Chapman
- Gabriela Denise Frank
- Naoko Fujimoto
- Laura Goldstein
- Nicholas Goodly
- C.R. Grimmer
- Sarah Gzemski
- Nathan Hoks
- Ish Klein
- Ben Kline
- Taylor Johnson
- Jacqueline Jones LaMon
- Craig Lawrence
- Lisa Low
- Vi Khi Nao
- Natalie Perman
- C. Russell Price
- Michael Robins
- Mira Rosenthal
- Janice Sapigao
- Danniel Schoonebeek
- Precious Symonette
- Kenneth Tokuno
Questions and comments about the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent
Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships can be directed to
Grants@PoetryFoundation.org.
About the Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation
recognizes the power of words to transform lives. We work to
amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to
create, experience, and share poetry. Follow the Poetry Foundation
on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X), and
Poetry at @PoetryMagazine.
Media Contacts
Liz
O'Connell-Thompson, Media Manager,
eoconnellthompson@poetryfoundation.org
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