Post-Publication Poetry Book Award: Kansas Book Award in Poetry

Kansas Book Award in Poetry; Prize of $1,000

In order to highlight the wealth of fine literature written by Kansans, the Thomas Fox Averill
Kansas Studies Collection at Mabee Library, Washburn University, seeks nominations of booklength collections of poetry for its first Book Award in Kansas Literature.

This year’s judge will be Eric McHenry, Poet Laureate of Kansas and award-winning poet. The prize, of $1,000, will be awarded to a book that meets the guidelines below, and the winner will be invited to
Washburn University’s Mabee Library in the Spring of 2016 for a reading and presentation
ceremony.

 Guidelines:
*Nominations can come from publishers, authors, or anyone interested in seeing a book
considered.
*Books must be original work, rather than work collected/edited by author.
*Author must establish a connection to Kansas by birth, education, employment, residence,
subject matter of the book, or other significant claim.
*Books must have an original publication date (copyright notice) within the three calendar years
immediately preceding the year of the competition deadline. To be eligible for the 2016 Poetry
deadline, the nominee’s book must have a publication date of 2013, 2014 or 2015.
*Books of poetry should be bound and consist of at least 60 pages.
*Nominations must be postmarked or presented by December 31, 2015. 

Please submit books for consideration to:

Awards
c/o Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection
Mabee Library
1700 College
Topeka, KS 66621

The Kansas Book Award is co-sponsored by Washburn University’s Center for Kansas Studies; the Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection at Mabee Library; and the Friends of Mabee Library.

The Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection is an eclectic, inclusive set of materials dedicated to the study of Kansas literature through the state’s folklore, history, geography, flora, fauna, social fabric and culture. The holdings include novels, plays, collections of poetry and fiction, histories, biographies, memoirs, letters, scholarly articles, collected folklore, manuscripts and ephemera gathered over 40+ years. The collection is building an inclusive and exhaustive body of work dedicated to encouraging the reading and writing of Kansas Literature, as well as being a home for researching and writing about Kansas Literature and Culture.

Eric McHenry is a nationally known poet and associate professor of English at Washburn University in Topeka. His work has been featured in publications such as Poetry International, Slate, Yale Review, and Field, among many others. He also contributes poetry reviews for the New York Times Book Review and Columbia magazine. Odd Evening, his third book of poems, will be published by Waywiser Press in 2016. A seventh-generation Topeka native, Eric received the Kate Tufts Discovery Award in 2007 and the Theodore Roethke Prize in 2011