The Balcones Center for Creative Writing at Austin Community College is pleased to announce the winner of the 2006 Balcones Poetry Prize.

The Balcones Center for Creative Writing at Austin Community College is pleased to announce the winner of the 2006 Balcones Poetry Prize. The prize of $1,000 recognizes an outstanding book of poetry published during the year.

DRIVE, by Lorna Dee Cervantes, was published in 2006 by Wings Press. Cervantes is a Californian of Mexican and Native American heritage. She is an associate professor at the University of Colorado, and lives in Boulder. Among her many honors are the American Book Award, the Paterson Prize, two NEA fellowships and a Pushcart Prize. DRIVE, a collection covering 25 years — from 1980 to 2005 — was chosen from 121 books nominated for the 2006 prize. The judges were impressed by poems that are intensely political or intimately personal, or both. They cited a wealth of voices and styles, crisp and resonant imagery, and a “well-crafted effortlessness.”

The Balcones Center for Creative Writing will bring Cervantes to Austin Community College’s Rio Grande Campus for a reading September 13, 2007.

Four finalists were named:

LIGHT AND SHADE, by Tom Clark (Coffee House Press)

THE REPUBLIC OF POETRY, by Martin Espada (W.W. Norton)

EROSION’S PULL, by Maureen Owen (Coffee House Press)

ABIDING PLACES, by Ko Un (Tupelo Press)

The judges were Hoa Nguyen, poet and publisher of Skanky Possum, Richard Price, poet, novelist and professor of writing and literature at Austin Community College, and Liz Scanlon, poet and professor of creative writing at Austin Community College.

Prize Information

This award of $1000 recognizes an outstanding book of poetry in English published during a given year.

The Balcones Poetry Prize has been awarded to eight books since its inception:

Eligibility: Books of poetry in English of 42 pages or more may be submitted by author or publisher; send three copies; books must bear a publication date between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007.

Deadline: January 31, 2008.

Reading fee: $20; checks payable to Austin Community College

Address: John Herndon, Associate Director, Balcones Center for Creative Writing, Austin Community College, 1212 Rio Grande Street, Austin, Texas 78701

Phone: 512-828-9368

Email: jherndon@austincc.edu