Press Release — Laura Boss Poetry Foundation
laurabosspoetryfoundation.org
For Immediate Release
September 1, 2023
The 2023 Laura Boss Poetry Award Winner and Finalists
The Laura Boss Poetry Foundation announced today the winning manuscript and finalists for the 2023 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award. The winning poet is Miriam Levine of Concord, NH. Her collection, Forget About Sleep, will be published in Spring 2024 by NYQ Books. This award also includes a $5,000 prize, 25 author copies, and a featured reading at the book’s release.
The Award’s final judge, José Antonio Rodríguez, author of The Day's Hard Edge, says about the judging that "Reading the manuscripts for the Laura Boss Poetry Foundation book contest was a true joy. So much beauty and talent and journey. I found in the finalists wondrous, brave voices. In the winner, Forget about Sleep by Miriam Levine, I found a collection suffused with the varied emotions and questions that come from a lifetime of memories - about childhood friends, adolescent romance, desire, pain, aging parents, parents of friends - about community and its relationship to the beautiful if indifferent natural world that nonetheless remains ever-open to meaning. Ultimately, the poems here trace the exquisite struggle to make meaning. Expansive and profound, Forget about Sleep is a triumph."
Five finalists were also selected from the more than 200 manuscripts submitted. They will each receive $100 awards and be invited to read poems from their manuscripts at the Poetry Center at PCCC in Paterson, New Jersey, on March 16, 2024.
The five finalists and the manuscript titles are Emily Hyland, Divorced Business Partners; Nancy Lubarsky, Truth to the Rumors; Stephen S. Mills, We Will Always Be Perverts; Sharon Kennedy-Nolle, Not Waving, and Sean Webb, Disappointment Awaits.
The Foundation was created as a tribute to Laura and 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 passing in 2021. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation, and all contributions to support its work are tax-deductible.
The submission period for the 2023 Award will be from January 1, 2024, to March 31, 2024. The final judge will be poet Jan Beatty.
Media Contact: Michelle Lerner, Foundation Director, laurabosspoetyrtfoundation@gmail.com
See https://laurabosspoetryfoundation.org/award for full details and check our NEWS page for updates.