Gunpowder Press welcomed esteemed Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Dunn as final judge for the 2019 Spacks Prize. This year’s winner, chosen by Stephen Dunn, is Glenn Freeman of Cornell, Iowa, for his collection Drinking with O’Hara.
The other finalists, in alphabetical order by poet’s last name:
- These Waters, John Belk
- Rosetta, by Karina Borowicz
- Luminous Body, Glittering Ash, by C.W. Emerson
- The Invention of the Parachute, by Ken Fifer
- Into Night’s Tent, by Stephen Frech
- I Come from a Long Line of Men Who Die in Their Sleep, by Robin Gow
- Our Spilt Blood at the Borders, by Jonathan Greenhause
- Medicine, 3AM, by Susan Kelly-Dewitt
- Cautious Horses Eyed Us, by Peg Quinn
The editors of Gunpowder Press were impressed by the precise language and striking images in these manuscripts. We also appreciate Stephen Dunn’s critical eye on selecting a winner from this strong group of manuscripts.
Dunn is the author of over a dozen books of poetry, including the National Poetry Series Prize-winning Local Time (1986), Landscape at the End of the Century (1991), Loosestrife (1996), Different Hours (2000), which won the Pulitzer Prize, What Goes On: New and Selected Poems 1995-2009 (2009), Here and Now (2011), Lines of Defense (2014), and Keeper of Limits (2015). His works of prose include Riffs and Reciprocities: Prose Pairs (1998), and Walking Light: Essays and Memoirs (reissued 2001). In addition to the Pulitzer, Dunn’s honors and awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He won the James Wright Prize and an Academy Award for Literature. Dunn is distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Richard Stockton College.