First Book Prize Now Gives a Woman Poet Time to Write Abroad [1]
Persea Books is now accepting entries to the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize [2], which offers the winning poet one thousand dollars, publication of her poetry collection, and, for the first time this year, a six-week residency in Italy. The all-expenses-paid retreat will take place at the Civitella Ranieri Center [3], a fifteenth century castle in Italy's Umbria region.
The contest is open to women poets who have not yet published a book-length collection. The deadline for manuscripts, which should be forty-six to ninety-eight pages, is November 1. The winner, to be announced in January, is chosen by an anonymous selection committee.
Previous years' winners are:
2009 Alexandra Teague for Mortal Geography
2008 Tara Bray for Mistaken for Song
2007 Anne Shaw [4] for Undertow
2006 Alena Hairston [5] for The Logan Topographies
The award is a collaborative effort between Persea Books, independent publisher of collections by poets such as Sarah Gambito [6], Marie Howe, and Thylias Moss [7], and the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Project, named for the late poet Lexi Rudnitsky, author of A Doorless Knocking Into Night (Mid-List Press, 2005).