“Joshua Bennett’s book, The Study of Human Life, captures the extraordinary in ordinary lives, and explores black experiences and relationships. This book is brilliant and moving.
THE 2022 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNERS
The Paterson Poetry Prize Award for 2022 is shared by two poets:
Catherine Doty, Wonderama (CavanKerry Press, Ltd., Fort Lee, NJ)
Craig Morgan Teicher, Welcome to Sonnetville, New Jersey (BOA Editions, Ltd., Rochester, NY)
FINALISTS
Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Water I Won’t Touch (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Bob Hicok, Red Rover Red Rover (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Laura Kasischke, Lightning Falls in Love (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Linda Lerner, Taking the F Train (NYQ Books, Beacon, NY)
Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN)
Adrienne Su, peach state (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
Jenny Qi, Focal Point (Steel Toe Books, Winston-Salem, NC)
The Paterson Poetry Prize of $2,000 is given annually by the Poetry Center to a book of poetry (48 pages or more) published in the previous year. The submission deadline for the 2023 award is February 1, 2023.
2021 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNER
The Poetry Center at PCCC is pleased to announce the winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize for 2021 is Rachel Eliza Griffiths, for her collection Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY).
“Rachel Eliza Griffith’s book is a multifaceted elegy to her mother and exploration of grief and of how to survive. These are beautiful and moving poems by a truly fine
and brilliant writer.” — Maria Mazziotti Gillan
FINALISTS
Ellen Bass, Indigo (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Tyree Daye, Cardinal (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Megan Fernandes, Good Boys (Tin House, St. Portland, OR)
Tony Gloeggler, What Kind of Man (NYQ Books, Beacon, NY)
Jeffrey Harrison, Between Lak es (Four Way Books, New York, NY)
Danusha Laméris, Bonf ire Opera (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
PATERSON PRIZE FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Gerald Stern, Blessed as We Were (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
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2020 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner & Finalists
2020 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner & Finalists
Winner: Jericho Brown
for his poetry collection,
The Tradition
(Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
Finalists
Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
Carrie Conners, Luscious Struggle (BrickHouse Books, Inc., Baltimore, MD)
W. D. Ehrhart, Thank You for your Service: Collected Poems (McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC)
Martin Jude Farawell, Odd Boy (Sibling Rivalry Press, Little Rock, AK)
Dorianne Laux, Only As the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems (W. W. Norton & Company, NY) 1
Vivian Shipley, An Archaeology of Days (Negative Capability Press, Mobile, AL)
Matthew Thorburn, The Grace of Distance: Poems (Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA)
Jericho Brown
2019 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE WINNERS
WINNERS OF THE 2019 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE
Daniel Donaghy, Somerset (NYQ Books, New York, NY)
“Donaghy writes brilliantly about growing up in a hard-scrabble neighborhood in Philadelphia,
and explores complexities of love and sorrow, shame and gratitude.”
Sean Thomas Dougherty, The Second O of Sorrow (BOA Editions, Ltd., Rochester, NY)
“In this amazing, tender, passionate book, Dougherty peels back all the self-protective shields
under which he has hidden truths even from himself, and lets the reader experience all the
people who inhabit his world. In so doing, he reveals his own vulnerability.”
— Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Executive Director, The Poetry Center
FINALISTS
Suzanne Cleary, Crude Angel: Poems (BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO)
Matthew Dickman, Wonderland: Poems (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
Chanda Feldman, Approaching the Fields: Poems (LSU Press, Baton Rouge, LA)
Maria Giura, What My Father Taught Me (Bordighera Press, New York, NY)
Allison Joseph, Confessions of a Barefaced Woman (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, CA)
Michael Lally, another way to play: poems 1960 – 2017 (Seven Stories Press, New York, NY)
January Gill O’Neil, Rewilding (CavanKerry Press, Fort Lee, NJ)
Danny Shot, Works (CavanKerry Press, Fort Lee, NJ)
The Paterson Poetry Prize of $1,000 is given annually by the Poetry Center to a book of poetry (48 pages or more) published in the previous year. Submission deadline is February 1, 2020.
Jan Beatty is the 2018 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner
The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College is pleased to announce that the 2018 Paterson Poetry Prize winner is Jan Beatty for her book, Jackknife: New and Selected Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA).
"Jackknife is a book that secures Jan’s place in American literature
as one of the fiercest and bravest poets writing today." — Maria Mazziotti Gillan
FINALISTS
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Arrival: Poems (Northwestern University Press, Evanston, IL)
Jim Daniels, Rowing Inland (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI)
Judy Grahn, Hanging on Our Own Bones (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, CA)
Nicole Homer, Pecking Order (Write Bloody Publishing, Los Angeles, CA)
Christine Kitano, Sky Country (BOA Editions, Ltd., Rochester, NY)
Meghan O’Rourke, Sun in Days (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, NY)
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, The Last Cigarette on Earth (Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso, TX)
Cindy Veach, Gloved Against Blood (CavanKerry Press, Fort Lee, NJ)
The Paterson Poetry Prize of $1,000 is given annually by the Poetry Center to a book of poetry (48 pages or more) published in the previous year.
The submission deadline for books published in 2018 is February 1, 2019. For 2019 award rules and application forms, visit www.poetrycenterpccc.com/awards/. For questions, contact sdesai@pccc.edu.
The Poetry Center was named a Distinguished Arts Project and awarded several Citations of Excellence, and is funded, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
2017 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner & Honor Books
The 2017 Paterson Poetry Prize winner is Kim Addonizio for her collection Mortal Trash (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY).
Honor Books
Kevin Carey, Jesus Was a Homeboy (CavanKerry Press, Fort Lee, NJ)
Dante Di Stefano, Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight (Brighthorse Books, Omaha, NE)
Gary Fincke, Bringing Back the Bones: New and Selected Poems (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, Nacogdoches, TX)
M. L. Liebler, I Want to Be Once (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI)
Colleen J. McElroy, Blood Memory (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
Yehoshua November, Two Worlds Exist (Orison Books, Asheville, NC)
Brynn Saito, Power Made Us Swoon (Red Hen Press, Pasadena, CA)
Mark Doty Is the 2016 Paterson Poetry Prize Winner
The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College is pleased to announce that the 2016 Paterson Poetry Prize winner is Mark Doty for Deep Lane (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY).
In Deep Lane, Mark Doty writes of "the wild unsayable," yet manages in this brilliant book to find the precise words to describe what it means to be alive and human with all our flaws. He leads us on a brave journey through grief and loss and joy, to all that lies below the surface of our lives, all the hard-earned moments that redeem us.
FINALISTS for 2016 are:
- Reginald Dwayne Betts, Bastards of the Reagan Era (Four Way Books, New York, NY)
- Tony Hoagland, Application for Release from the Dream (Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN)
- Patricia Spears Jones, A Lucent Fire: New & Selected Poems (White Pine Press, Buffalo, NY)
- Adele Kenny, A Lightness, A Thirst, or Nothing at All (Welcome Rain Publishers, New York, NY)
- Richard Michelson, More Money Than God (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
- Vivian Shipley, Perennial (Negative Capability Press, Mobile, AL)
The Paterson Poetry Prize of $1000 is given annually by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College to a book of poetry (48 pages or more) published in the previous year, with a minimum press run of 500 copies.
The Poetry Center was named a Distinguished Arts Project and awarded several Citations of Excellence, and is funded, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
THE 2015 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE
THE 2015 PATERSON POETRY PRIZE
B. H. Fairchild, The Blue Buick: New and Selected Poems (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
In The Blue Buick: New and Selected Poems, B.H. Fairchild displays a candidness and spontaneity that is rare. There is an excitement that ripples through his work. His voice is unflinchingly direct but tender, and he is fearless in his willingness to engage in even the most controversial subjects.
Finalists
- Ellen Bass, Like a Beggar (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
- Teresa Carson, My Crooked House (CavanKerry Press, Fort Lee, NJ)
- Linda Hogan, Dark. Sweet. New & Selected Poems (Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, MN)
- Teresa Leo, Bloom in Reverse (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
- Alison Luterman, Desire Zoo (Tia Chucha Press, San Fernando, CA)
Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement for Previous Winners of the Paterson Poetry Prize
- Sherman Alexie, What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned (Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, NY)
- Stephen Dunn, Lines of Defense (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
- Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY)
- Maxine Kumin, And Short the Season (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
- Alicia Suskin Ostriker, The Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
- Luis J. Rodriguez, Poems Across the Pavement (Tia Chucha Press, San Fernando, CA)
- Gerald Stern, Divine Nothingness (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
Paterson Award for Literary Excellence for Previous Finalists of the Paterson Poetry Prize
- Eavan Boland, A Woman Without a Country (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY)
- Jericho Brown, The New Testament (Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, WA)
- Grace Cavalieri, The Mandate of Heaven (Bordighera Press, New York, NY)
- Sean Thomas Dougherty, All You Ask for Is Longing: New and Selected Poems 1994-2014 (BOA Editions, Ltd., Rochester, NY)
- January Gill O’Neil, Misery Islands (CavanKerry Press, Fort Lee, NJ)
- Afaa Michael Weaver, City of Eternal Spring (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
Paterson Poetry Prize 2014: Billy Collins
The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College annually gives the Paterson Poetry Prize for a book of poems, selected by the judges as the strongest collection of poems published in that year.
The winning book for 2014 is Billy Collins latest collection, Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (Random House, New York, NY).
Paterson Poetry Prize Finalists for 2014
- Valerie Bandura, Freak Show (Black Lawrence Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
- Daisy Fried, Women's Poetry: Poems and Advice (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA)
- Jonathan Gillman, My Father, Humming (Antrim House, Simsbury, CT)
- Rachel McKibbens, Into the Dark & Emptying Field (Small Doggies Press, Portland, OR)
- Jose Antonio Rodriguez, The Backlit Hour (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, Nacogdoches, TX)
- Charles Simic, New and Selected Poems: 1962-2012 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, NY)
Billy Collins is the author of many books of poetry and has become one of the best known and best-selling poets in America. His books include Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems (Random House, 2012); Ballistics: Poems (2008); She Was Just Seventeen, a 2006 haiku collection; The Trouble with Poetry (2005); Nine Horses (2002); Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001); Picnic, Lightning (1998); The Art of Drowning (1995), which was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Questions About Angels (1991), which was selected by Edward Hirsch for the National Poetry Series; The Apple That Astonished Paris (1988); Video Poems (1980); and Pokerface (1977).
Collins has edited Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (Random House, 2003), an anthology of contemporary poems for use in schools and was a guest editor for the 2006 edition of The Best American Poetry.
Collins served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, and as the New York State Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. His other honors and awards include the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry, as well as fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1992, he was chosen by the New York Public Library to serve as “Literary Lion.” He has conducted summer poetry workshops in Ireland at University College Galway, and taught at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence, and taught for many years at Lehman College (CUNY). He lives in New York and Florida.
Billy Collins was the featured reader on May 9, 2015 at the Poetry Center along with all the finalists (except Charles Simic) at the historic Hamilton Club Building in Paterson, NJ.