Tupelo Press is delighted to announce that David Wojahn has selected Lauren Camp’s One Hundred Hungers as winner of the 2014 Dorset Prize.
Lauren Camp is the author of two books of poems, The Dailiness (Edwin E. Smith, 2013) and This Business of Wisdom (West End Press, 2010). She was a juror for the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and guest editor for special sections in World Literature Today (on international jazz poetry) and Malpaís Review (on the poetry of Iraq). Three times nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her writing has appeared recently or is forthcoming in Brilliant Corners, The Portland Review, and Feminist Studies. Lauren has been a radio producer and host on Santa Fe Public Radio since 2003, and is an acclaimed visual artist. For more information, go to her website, www.laurencamp.com.
In selecting One Hundred Hungers David Wojahn had this to say: I was impressed by the cohesiveness of this collection, by the ease with which it moved between its themes of exile, displacement, uneasy assimilation into North American culture, and its ability to tell a family history without resorting to the autobiographical clichés…. The book is inventively structured, mixing personal lyrics with a series of short, gnomic and haunting vignettes that seem to reside almost outside of time. And of course the particular diaspora which the book derives from—capturing the experience Iraqi-Jewish immigrant family—makes for a still more complicated stance, one of exile within exile, as it were…. It is a strong and compelling collection.
David Wojahn selected a first and second runner-up:
First runner-up: The Body Distances, by Mark Wagenaar of Denton, Texas
Second runner-up: The Visible Remains, by John de Stefano of New York, New York
In addition, David Wojahn singled out two books for honorable mention:
The Weaver’s Body by Holaday Mason of Venice, California
Janice, Who Was Tall by John Surowiecki of Amston, Connecticut
Other Distinguished Finalists:
Tony Barnstone of Whittier, California for Pulp Sonnets
Lillian Bertram of Buffalo, New York for Personal Science
Tina Cane of Rumford, Rhode Island for Archipelago
Julie Hanson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa for Sovereign Notion
HR Hegnauer of Denver, Colorado for When the Bird is Not A Human
Michael Homolka of New York, New York for News From the Mountain
George Kalamaras of Fort Wayne, Indiana for We Wore Monk Hair
Kirsten Kaschock of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Confessional Sci-Fi: A Primer
Stuart Lishan of Delaware, Ohio for The Archeology of Light
Juliet Rodeman of Columbia, Missouri for The Voice of That Singing
Julie Marie Wade of Dania Beach, Florida for SIX
Ian Randall Wilson of Santa Monica, California for Bitter Carrots
We offer our boundless gratitude to our judge, David Wojahn, for giving all of us the benefit of his extraordinary ear and eye. Warmest congratulations to the winner, to both runners-up, both honorable mentions, to all of this year’s finalists, and once again, and perhaps most importantly, to the many poets who permitted us the pleasure of reading their submissions. There’s a lot of fine poetry coming our way, and we are abundantly grateful for the opportunity to read so much compelling work.
(photo credit: Bob Godwin)
Learn more about the Dorset Prize>>.