“Joshua Bennett’s book, The Study of Human Life, captures the extraordinary in ordinary lives, and explores black experiences and relationships. This book is brilliant and moving.
THE 2023 ALLEN GINSBERG POETRY AWARDS
The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the 2023 ALLEN GINSBERG POETRY AWARDS WINNERS/
FIRST PRIZE
Linda Nemec Foster, Grand Rapids, MI “When We Talk About the Movie, Casablanca, My Father Remembers Every Line …”
Caroline Russell, Jersey City, NJ “An Ode to Mildred”
SECOND PRIZE
Lorraine Conlin, Wantagh, NY “First Date”
Christine Rhein, Brighton, MI “Cooking with My Sister”
THIRD PRIZE
Marcia LeBeau, South Orange, NJ “Toward the River”
Lynne Viti, Westwood, MA “Westwood Lodge, the Summer Hotel”
For a complete list of the winners, honorable mentions, and editor’s choice poems and poets, see our press release on the Contests and Awards page, where you will also find the guidelines for entering next year’s contest.
Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award Publication Celebration April 29
A reading celebrating the publication of Man at the Railing by Edwin Romond, winner of the 2022 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award will be held at The Poetry Center at PCCC in Paterson, NJ on April 29, 2023.
There will be a reception with food and drinks at noon and the reading will begin at 1 pm.
This event celebrates the first Award publication which honors the legacy of poet Laura Boss.
In attendance will be Laura’s son, Barry Boss, who founded the Laura Boss Poetry Foundation. The members of the Foundation board - Michelle Lerner, James Haba, Jim Gwyn, Ken Ronkowitz and Maria Gillan - will also attend and introduce the readers. Maria Gillan was also the final judge for this initial Award. Raymond Hammond, publisher of NYQ Books that published the winning book, will also be in attendance.
All five finalists for the award will also be reading.
Edwin Romond is the author of five collections of poetry, his work has appeared in journals, college textbooks, and has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac. He has been awarded poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and from both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania State Councils on the Arts. His poem, “Champion,” won the 2013 New Jersey Poetry Prize. Romond was a public school teacher for 32 years in Wisconsin and New Jersey. A native of Woodbridge, NJ, he now lives in Wind Gap, PA. His website is edwinromond.com
Jennifer Poteet's work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Adirondack Review, 2River View, The Cortland Review, The Journal of New Jersey Poets, Paterson Literary Review, Pedestal Magazine, Mom Egg Review, Swwim, The Night Heron Barks and elsewhere. Her chapbook Sleepwalking Home was published by Dancing Girl Press. Her website is jenniferpoteet.com
Tony Gloeggler is a lifelong resident of NYC who has managed a group home for developmentally disabled men in Brooklyn for over 40 years. His chapbook One On One won the 1998 Pearl Poetry Prize. His first full-length collection, One Wish Left, published by Pavement Saw Press went into a 2nd printing in 2007. Until The Last Light Leaves (NYQ Books) was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Book Award in 2016. What Kind of Man (NYQ Books, 2020) was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. You can find Tony on Facebook.
Carole Stone is Distinguished Professor of English, emerita, at Montclair State University. She has published five books of poetry among them Traveling with the Dead (Backwaters Press) and American Rhapsody (Cavankerry Press). Her recent work has appeared in Blue Fifth Journal, Slab, and Bellevue Literary Review. She has won three fellowships from The NJ State Council on the Arts. Her book, Limited Editions will be published by Cavankerry Press in 2023.
Svea Barrett is a retired teacher. Her poems have appeared in The Paterson Literary Review, Lips, The Edison Literary Review, Griffel, The Rat’s Ass Review, The NJ English Journal, and others. Her chapbook, Why I Collect Moose, won the 2005 Poet’s Corner Press Chapbook Contest, and her book, I Tell Random People About You, won the 2010 Spire Press Poetry Award. She tied for first place in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest in 2013.
Lisa Coll Nicolaou, a graduate of Yale University, is a lifelong educator and writer. For many years she was the creative writing teacher at The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. Lisa has been a visiting poet in the Paterson Schools since 1997 and now serves as the program director of the Theater and Poetry Project in Paterson. Her poetry and prose have been published in Oprah Magazine, Lips, The Paterson Literary Review, and other journals. In 2016, she shared first prize in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest.
For information on the Foundation and its work, go to laurabosspoetryfoundation.org
THE 2023 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WINNERS
The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey is pleased to announce the winning books and authors for the 2023 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
WINNERS
Grade Pre K - 3
Desiree Cooper, Nothing Special (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI)
Crystal Hubbard, Marvelous Mabel: Figure Skating Superstar (Lee & Low Books Inc., New York, NY)
Grade 4 - 6
Alda P. Dobbs, The Other Side of the River (Sourcebooks Young Readers, Naperville, IL)
Diane Zahler, Goblin Market (Holiday House, New York, NY)
Grade 7 - 12
Barbara Krasner, Ethel’s Song: Ethel Rosenberg’s Life in Poems (Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, New York, NY)
Monica Zepeda, Boys of the Beast (Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, New York, NY)
Click here for the rules and an application, and for more information, email sdesai@pccc.edu
2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards
FIRST PRIZE
January Gill O’Neil, Beverly, MA “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial, Glendora, MS, October 19, 2019”
Bill Wunder, Langhorne, PA “Looking Through Old Family Photographs”
SECOND PRIZE
Jason Craig Poole, South Orange, NJ “First Dance”
Sherida Yoder , North Haledon, NJ “Sometimes”
THIRD PRIZE
Colleen Michaels, Beverly, MA “One Day We Were Full and Flush”
Wanda S. Praisner, Bedminster, NJ “Departures”
For a full list of Honorable Mention and Editor’s Choice poems,
see our awards page.
The Award Winners’ Reading is scheduled for February 4, 2023
2022 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The following are the winners of the 2022 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE listed by grade levels.
Grade Pre K - 3
Hunter Liguore, The Whole World Inside Nan ’s Soup (Yeehoo Press , La Habra, CA)
Joyce Sidman, Hello Earth! Poems to our Planet (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, MI)
Grade 4 - 6
Alda P. Dobbs, Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna (Sourcebooks Young Readers, Naperville, IL)
Elizabeth Goss, My Way West: Real Kids Traveling the Oregon & California Trails (West Margin Press, Berkeley, CA)
Grade 7 - 12
María José Ferrada, Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, MI)
Joseph Rael & David R. Kopacz, Becoming Who You Are: Beautiful Painted Arrow’s Life &
Lessons for Children ages 10-100 (Condor & Eagle Press, Seattle, WA)
THE 2022 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNERS
The Paterson Poetry Prize Award for 2022 is shared by two poets:
Catherine Doty, Wonderama (CavanKerry Press, Ltd., Fort Lee, NJ)
Craig Morgan Teicher, Welcome to Sonnetville, New Jersey (BOA Editions, Ltd., Rochester, NY)
FINALISTS
Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Water I Won’t Touch (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Bob Hicok, Red Rover Red Rover (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Laura Kasischke, Lightning Falls in Love (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Linda Lerner, Taking the F Train (NYQ Books, Beacon, NY)
Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN)
Adrienne Su, peach state (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
Jenny Qi, Focal Point (Steel Toe Books, Winston-Salem, NC)
The Paterson Poetry Prize of $2,000 is given annually by the Poetry Center to a book of poetry (48 pages or more) published in the previous year. The submission deadline for the 2023 award is February 1, 2023.
2021 ALLEN GINSBERG POETRY AWARD WINNERS
The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award winners for 2021.
FIRST PRIZE
Adele Kenny, Fanwood, NJ “One of Us”
Marion Paganello, Fair Lawn, NJ “A Picture is Worth...”
SECOND PRIZE
Arthur Russell, Nutley, NJ “Jaime”
THIRD PRIZE
Charlie W. Brice, Pittsburgh, PA “Something in Us Loves a Good Storm”
2021 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNER
The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize for 2021 is Rachel Eliza Griffiths, for her collection Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY).
“Rachel Eliza Griffith’s book is a multifaceted elegy to her mother and exploration of grief and of how to survive. These are beautiful and moving poems by a truly fine
and brilliant writer.” — Maria Mazziotti Gillan
FINALISTS
Ellen Bass, Indigo (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Tyree Daye, Cardinal (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Megan Fernandes, Good Boys (Tin House, St. Portland, OR)
Tony Gloeggler, What Kind of Man (NYQ Books, Beacon, NY)
Jeffrey Harrison, Between Lak es (Four Way Books, New York, NY)
Danusha Laméris, Bonf ire Opera (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
PATERSON PRIZE FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Gerald Stern, Blessed as We Were (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE
2021 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the 2021 PATERSON PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE winners in three grade levels.
Grade Pre K - 3
Anica Mrose Rissi, Love, Sophia on the Moon (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, New York, NY)
Mariana Llanos, Eunice and Kate (Penny Candy Books, Oklahoma City, OK)
Grade 4 - 6
Diane Worthey, In One Ear & Out The Other (Penny Candy Books, Oklahoma City, OK)
Joseph Bruchac, The Powwow Dog (Reycraft Books, New York, NY)
Grade 7 - 12
Beth Kephart, Cloud Hopper (Penelope Editions, Oklahoma City, OK)
Anna K. Scotti, Big & Bad (Texas Review Press, Huntsville, TX)
DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE
2020 Paterson Prize Books for Young People Winners
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s
Paterson Prize Books for Young People.
Grade K-3 Winner
Diana de Anda for Mango Moon (Albert Whitman & Co., Chicago, IL)
Grade 4-6 Winner
Padma Venkatraman for The Bridge Home (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York, NY)
Grade 7-12 Winner
Torran Anderson for Piñata Moon (Look Out Behind You Books, Tucson, AZ)
Honor Books
Bailey Sisoy Isgro - Rosie, A Detroit Herstory (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI)
Lee Bennett Hopkins - I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending (Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc., Watertown, MA)
Deborah Hopkinson - Carter Reads the Newspaper (Peach Tree Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA)
Michael Bronski - A Queer History of the United States for Young People (Beacon Press, Boston, MA)
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz - An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People (Beacon Press, Boston, MA)
C.J Farley - Around Harvard Square (Akashic Books, Brooklyn, NY)
For information about this prize, see the Poetry Center’s Contest & Awards page
2020 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner & Finalists
2020 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner & Finalists
Winner: Jericho Brown
for his poetry collection,
The Tradition
(Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Finalists
Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
Carrie Conners, Luscious Struggle (BrickHouse Books, Inc., Baltimore, MD)
W. D. Ehrhart, Thank You for your Service: Collected Poems (McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC)
Martin Jude Farawell, Odd Boy (Sibling Rivalry Press, Little Rock, AK)
Dorianne Laux, Only As the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems (W. W. Norton & Company, NY) 1
Vivian Shipley, An Archaeology of Days (Negative Capability Press, Mobile, AL)
Matthew Thorburn, The Grace of Distance: Poems (Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA)
Jericho Brown