Announcing the Winner of the 2021 NEA Big Read Competition, funded by the Friends of Peter White Public Library.
1st Place: Russell Brakefield with “Our Natural Satellite
2nd Place: Randi Clemons, “Conjuring a Ghost & Other Ways to Ruin Your Teeth”
3rd Place: Zoa Coudret, “Becoming”
Honorable Mention: Heath Joseph Wooten, “Home Myth”
Honorable Mention: Philip Rice, “Every Human Animal”
Heartfelt thanks to Cindy Hunter Morgan for judging the contest. She says all five were strong entries, and she really enjoyed judging the contest.
Here’s what she had to say about the winning entry:
“There is so much to admire in this short manuscript, which manages to travel many places as it wrestles with location and dislocation and as it probes not just the odd and complex history of space exploration but also the ordinary experiences of living on earth in the age of such travel. These poems are supple and complex, honest and tender. They acknowledge the complexity of what we know, what we don’t know, what we remember, and what we imagine. Moving from a crater in Wisconsin blacktop to a childhood garden to a “single, pleading yelp” of a dog in Russia, this strong collection forms a sustained meditation on our relationship with the moon.” – Cindy Hunter Morgan
2021 NEA Big Read ChapBook Competition Winner Announced