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may swenson
poetry award

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This annual competition, named for May Swenson, honors her as one of America's most provocative, insouciant, and vital poets. In John Hollander's words, she was "one of our few unquestionably major poets."  During her career, May was loved and praised by writers from virtually every major school of poetry. She left a legacy of nearly fifty years of writing when she died in 1989. She is buried in Logan, Utah, her hometown.

Judge for the 2002 competition will be the winner of the Ambassador Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Bingham Poetry Prize, and the T.S. Eliot Prize

Mark Doty

The winning manuscript receives a $1000 prize, publication in the spring of 2002, and royalties.

• Submitted collections must be original poetry in English, 50 to 100 pages.
• No restrictions on form or subject. 
• Submit one copy of the manuscript. 
• Name/address on the cover sheet only. 
• $25 reading fee (includes copy of winning book).
• Postmark deadline September 30, 2001.
• SASE for announcement of winner.
• Manuscript will not be returned. 
• Judge reserves the right to declare no winner in any given year. 

Address questons to the May Swenson Poetry Award