Catamaran Poetry Prize 2019
The winner of the 2019 Catamaran Poetry Prize is
Just Living by Susan Browne
Susan Browne
Susan Browne’s poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, The Sun, Subtropics, The Southern Review, Superstition Review, Rattle, SWWIM, New Ohio Review, B O D Y, American Life in Poetry, Love’s Executive Order, and 180 More, Extraordinary Poems for Every Day. Her first book of poetry, Buddha’s Dogs (Four Way Books), was awarded the Intro Prize. Her second book of poetry, Zephyr (Steel Toe Books), won the Editor’s Prize. Other awards include prizes from the Chester H. Jones Foundation, the National Writer’s Union, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and the River Styx International Poetry Contest. She received a fellowship from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and her work has been nominated for three Pushcart Awards. She also has a word/music CD: Swearing, Smoking, Drinking,& Kissing (with Kim Addonizio). Susan teaches at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. www.susanbrownepoems.com
Statement on this year’s Catamaran Poetry Prize
The manuscripts submitted for the 2019 Catamaran Poetry Prize were exceptionally strong. It was difficult to narrow the pool to five finalists, and challenging to pick just one winner from the top entries, since all of the finalists are publishable manuscripts. In recognition of the strength of this year’s entries, we are naming not only a winner and four finalists, but three semifinalists as well, since those deserving entries would not otherwise be acknowledged. The vitality and variety of the entries is testimony to the dynamic poetry community on the West Coast of the United States. Many thanks to all the poets who entered this year’s contest.
The entry anonymously chosen for the Catamaran Poetry Prize, Susan Browne’s Just Living, is an extraordinary collection of poems. I didn’t want this book to end. I wanted to keep reading these amazing poems that fuse outrageous humor with a stiletto-sharp pathos. Susan Browne’s poems send a message of great hope that people can keep going despite every adversity, personal, political, and planetary. —Zack Rogow
The Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets
The Catamaran Poetry Prize encourages the submission of previously unpublished poetry manuscripts across a range of styles, themes, and forms. This contest is for a collection of poetry only. The prize is only open to West Coast poets living in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. A prize of $1,000 and publication in book form is awarded to the poetry collection selected by the judge. Submissions accepted Nov 15th through April 20th.
Finalists
Accidental Architecture by Persis Karim
Borrowed Light by Ken Haas
Ghost Dogs by Dion O’Reilly
The Wind Apples by Jeff Ewing
Semifinalists:
Due South by Dawn O’Leary
Human Document by Iris Dunkle
Upright by Kevin Simmons
About Zack Rogow:
The judge for our 2019 Catamaran poetry prize is Zack Rogow. Zack Rogow is a poet, playwright, editor, and translator. Zack has published eight collections of poetry, and is the author, editor, or translator of twenty books or plays. His most recent book of poems, Irreverent Litanies, was published in 2019 by Regal House.