Final judge Nan Cohen has selected the winner of the Dryden-Vreeland Book Prize: Christopher Blackman for his manuscript Three-Day Weekend. His book will be forthcoming from Gunpowder Press in 2024. Seven other poets were selected as finalists:
- Jasmine Marshall Armstrong, The School Custodian’s Daughter
- Kirsten Casey, Grieving Birds
- Nicelle Davis, Ars/Ours
- James Dickson, Hoping to Embrace the Moon
- Alicia Hoffman, You Are Browsing as a Guest
- Barry Peters, The Cohesion of Fizz
- Jessica Purdy, Lung Hours
Christopher Blackman is a poet from Columbus, Ohio. His poems have appeared in The Kenyon Review, DIAGRAM, Cleaver Magazine, Southeast Review, Booth, and Epiphany, among other publications. Former co-host of the podcast Poem Party, he received his MFA from Columbia University, and has been an instructor for the Kenyon Review Young Writers’ Workshop. He was a finalist for the National Poetry Series, and a semi-finalist for the Autumn House Press Poetry Prize. He currently lives outside of Boston and is the Admission and Financial Aid Database Manager at Dana Hall School, a 5-12 Day and Boarding Girls School in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
About the Prize
Gunpowder Press editors David Starkey and Chryss Yost named this prize to honor two high school teachers who made an impact on them: Michael Dryden and Susan Vreeland. Michael Dryden taught English at Foothill High School in Sacramento in the 1970s and 80s. Susan Vreeland taught at University City High in San Diego before becoming a best-selling author.