Marilyn Chin Selects Kate Sweeney as Winner of 2024 Adrienne Rich Award

Of Sweeney’s poem, Marilyn Chin writes, "I love this tiara of sonnets, filled with lurid confessions and womanist high jinks. I am especially impressed by the sprinklings of brilliant assertions: 'Gender is undistinguishable from gender…' 'You were immune, an error of blood at birth, small and pale, and boned.' Perhaps this sequence was inspired by Adrienne Rich’s 'Twenty-One Love Poems,' perhaps not. Nonetheless, I believe that Adrienne Rich would’ve enjoyed reading this edgy collection.”

We’re grateful to the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust and to all who submitted poems for this year’s contest.

VOLUME 73 NO. 2

Our new issue has arrived featuring work by Colleen Abel, Janan Alexandra, Farah Ali, Rowyda Amin, Alex Averbuch, Laura Bandy, Rhoni Blankenhorn, Zoe Canner, Leila Chatti, Sophia Chong, Jessica Cuello, River 瑩瑩 Dandelion, Jonathan Diaz, Amy Dryansky, Rebecca Ellis, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Stacey Forbes, Rebecca Foust, Janice N. Harrington, Darla Himeles, Lizzie Hutton, Alexis V. Jackson, Heather Jessen, Arielle Kaplan, Jeremy Karn, Halee Kirkwood, Julia Kolchinsky, Veronica Kornberg, Mylo Lam, Lance Larsen, Éireann Lorsung, Carling McManus, Afton Montgomery, Stephanie Niu, Kimberly Ann Priest, Avery Robinson, Adrie Rose, Cintia Santana, Lauren Marie Schmidt, Jason Tandon, Ben Togut, Martine van Bijlert, Preeti Vangani, Lesley Wheeler and Simone Zapata.

Cover art by Martin Wittfooth.

Pamela Alexander's Left Selected for the Chad Walsh Chapbook Series

The editors of the Beloit Poetry Journal are delighted to announce that they have selected Pamela Alexander's Left for this year's title in the Chad Walsh Chapbook Series.

Pamela Alexander is the author of four previous collections of poetry, including Slow Fire. Other books were awarded the Yale Younger Poet and Iowa Poetry Prizes, and her work has appeared in many periodicals and anthologies. She taught creative writing at MIT and Oberlin College for many years, and served on the editorial board of FIELD magazine. Her honors include fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center and at the Harvard-Radcliffe Institute. She lives in Maine.

When you subscribe to the BPJ, you’ll receive as part of your subscription a copy of the forthcoming chapbook in the series. Not a subscriber? Subscribe here.

Join the Conversation!

We're excited to welcome TC Tolbert to our feature, BPJ Poets In Conversation. S/he spoke with us about "The Quiet Practices", Winner of the 2023 Chad Walsh Chapbook Series.

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photo of cherry trees by Meriç Dağli

Submissions for 2024 Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry

The editors of the Beloit Poetry Journal are pleased to accept entries for the 2024 Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry. The award was established in 2017, with the support of the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust

This year’s final judge is Marilyn Chin. Born in Hong Kong, she is the author of six poetry collections and a novel. She is the winner of the 2020 Ruth Lily Prize in Poetry, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and a Radcliffe Institute fellowship, among other honors. Presently, she serves as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and lives in San Diego.

All submissions will be considered for publication, and the winner will receive $1,500. Submissions will remain open through April 30. For more details, see our guidelines.

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