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The Balcones Center for Creative Writing at Austin Community College is pleased to announce the winner of the 2006 Balcones Poetry Prize.
The Balcones Poetry Prize for 2008 has been awarded to Dismantling the Hills by Michael McGriff. The prize of $1,000 recognizes an outstanding
book of poetry published during the year.
Dismantling the Hills, McGriff’s first full–length collection, was published in 2008 by the University of Pittsburgh
Press. The book was chosen by the press for the 2007 Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize, which includes publication.
Michael McGriff was born and raised in Coos Bay, Oregon, and his work reflects a close relationship with the Pacific Northwest. He attended the
University of Oregon, was a Wallace Stegner fellow in poetry at Stanford University, where he is teaching, and was a Michener Fellow
in Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. He received the 2005 Ruth Lilly Fellowship from Poetry magazine, and his chapbook
Choke was published by Traprock Books in 2006. He currently holds an NEA fellowship. The Balcones Poetry Prize judges praised
his “fine ear and keen eye,” his “pointed precision, haunted and insistent accuracy,” his “deep understanding
of the beauty within the ugliness of industry, and the way strength of spirit can arise from forlorn circumstance.”
Four finalists were also named:
– Alpha Zulu by Gary Copeland Lilley (Ausable Press)
– Jealous Witness by Andrei Codrescu (Coffee House Press)
– Twigs and Knuclebones by Sarah Lindsay (Copper Canyon Press)
– What Love Comes To by Ruth Stone (Copper Canyon Press)
The judges for the 2008 prize were Joe Hoppe, a poet and professor of English and Creative Writing at Austin Community College; Peggy Kelley,
an Austin poet and attorney; and David Moorman, a poet and associate editor at Texas Monthly.
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 eleven books since its inception:
- Aimee Nezhukumatahil, At the Drive–In Volcano, 2007
- Lorna Dee Cervantes, Drive, 2006
- Aaron Anstett, No Accident, 2005
- Lorenzo Thomas, Dancing on Main Street, 2004
- John Hogden, Bread Without Sorrow, 2002
- Carol Potter, Short History of Pets, 2001
- Dana Levin, In the Surgical Theatre, 2000
- Arthur Sze, The Red-Shifting Web, 1999
- Reginald Gibbons, Sparrow: New and Selected Poems, 1997
- Lucia Perillo, The Body Mutinies, 1996
- Kathleen Halme, Every Substance Clothed, 1995
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, 2009 and December 31, 2009.
Deadline: January 31, 2010.
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 |
