Press Release
Laura Boss Poetry Foundation
laurabosspoetryfoundation.org
September 1, 2022
The Laura Boss Poetry Foundation announced today the winning manuscript and finalists for the 2022 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award.
Edwin Romond of Wind Gap, PA is the inaugural award winner. Romond’s manuscript, Man at the Railing, will be published in Spring 2023 by NYQ Books. The award also includes a $5,000 prize, 25 author copies and a featured reading.
The Award’s final judge was Maria Mazziotti Gillan, a poet and longtime friend of Laura. “Because all the finalist manuscripts were beautiful and moving in different ways, this was a very difficult choice to make. I finally selected Edwin’s manuscript because the poems reminded me of Laura. After I chose the manuscript and found out whose manuscript it was, I felt that I was right because I remembered that he is a poet whose work Laura loved and admired and I felt that my choice would have made Laura very happy,” says Gillan.
Five finalists were also selected from the more than 70 manuscripts submitted. A reading of poems from the winning and finalist manuscripts will take place at the Poetry Center at PCCC in Paterson, New Jersey at the release of the winning book.
The five finalists each receiving $100 awards are: Tony Gloeggler, Some Kind of Love; Lisa Nicolaou, Something Whole from Something Broken; Svea Barrett, Before There Was So Much Sky; Carole Stone, No Happy Ruins, and Jennifer Poteet, What Comes Back.
The Foundation was created by Laura Boss’ son, Barry Boss, as a tribute to her mission of supporting poets and poetry. In addition to this award, the Foundation financially supports the publication of the Lips poetry magazine which Laura started in 1981 and edited until her death in 2021. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation and all contributions to support its work are tax-deductible.
“I can think of no more fitting tribute to my mother than the work of the Foundation,” said Barry. “In her last days in hospice, the notion that her legacy would live on through the continued publication of Lips and the Narrative Poetry Award brought her comfort and joy during a difficult time. She would have loved Man at the Railing and been impressed with all of the finalists’ manuscripts.”
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