Gunpowder Press is currently accepting submissions for the John Ridland Poetry Prize. The John Ridland Poetry Prize is awarded annually for an unpublished book-length manuscript of 48-100 pages. This prize is open to poets 55 years and older. The prize includes $500, publication by Gunpowder Press, and 10 author copies. Entries accepted through December 31 via Submittable.
The inaugural winner of the John Ridland Poetry Prize is Joshua McKinney of Sacramento, California, selected by the editors for Sad Animal, which was published by Gunpowder Press in July 2024. David Starkey says of the winning collection:
There are moments of dark comedy in Sad Animal, as when the speaker sits through a dull, depressing English department meeting while trying to recall the lines of Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” and who else—see “The Funeral of Shelley”—would think to rhyme “Trelawney” with “the body” of the Romantic poet, lying “serene upon a pyre.” However, this is a serious book, with McKinney tenaciously memorializing the endless variety of life on Earth. Poems focusing on the natural world are an especially notable feature of Sad Animal. The poet keenly and imaginatively observes flora and fauna, without ever conflating the human perspective with that of its subjects. Indeed, it’s rare to find a book of poetry powered by such a remarkable intelligence that also revels so sensuously in sound and imagery. McKinney is no easy optimist, but while his heart may at times be “ravening” and “parched,” ultimately in these wise and graceful poems, it “leaps // into the air.”
Joshua is the author of four previous books of poetry. His work has appeared in such journals as Boulevard, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others. He is the recipient of The Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize, The University of Georgia Press Open Competition Prize, The Dickinson Prize, The Pavement Saw Chapbook Prize, and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing. He is co-editor of the online ecopoetics zine, Clade Song.
The other finalists, in alphabetical order by poet’s last name, are as follows:
- Li Po, Li Hua, and the Sophist by Peter Bethanis
- Thanksgiving Dinner in a Rich Zip Code by Stephanie Brown
- Sprung Loose by Sarah Carleton
- Awake, Breathing by Albert Garcia
- Requiem in Wide Open Minor by Justin Hunt
- Standard of Care by Lynette Lamp
- The Art of Skipping Stones by James Scruton
- Preparing to Teach the Lesson by Barry Seller
About the Prize
The John Ridland Poetry Prize is awarded annually for an unpublished book-length manuscript of 48-100 pages. This prize is open to poets 55 years and older. The prize includes $500, publication by Gunpowder Press, and 10 author copies.
Submissions for the John Ridland Poetry Prize are accepted annually from September 1-December 31. Due to our desire to respect international copyright, this prize is open to U.S. poets only.
Our Inspiration
The Ridland Prize honors poet, professor, mentor, friend, and translator John Ridland, who continued to create meaningful and elegantly-crafted work throughout his life. John Ridland was born in London in 1933 to British parents. When he was two, his family immigrated to California where he has lived most of his life. Four years at Swarthmore College were followed by two in the United States Army in Puerto Rico. In 1956 he entered graduate studies at Berkeley where he met and married Muriel Thomas from New Zealand, a fellow graduate student. In 1964 he completed a PhD from Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Ridland taught English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for forty-three years, including three years based in Melbourne as director for the UC Education Abroad Program in Australia. His book publications include A Brahms Card Ballad (2007), first published in Hungarian translation (2004), Happy in an Ordinary Thing (2013), and a book-length translation of Petöfi’s John the Valiant (1999). With his essential collaborator, Dr. Peter Czipott, Dr. Ridland has translated several other Hungarian poets, including Sándor Márai’s The Withering World (Alma Classics, 2013) and Miklos Rádnoti’s All That Still Matters at All (New American Press, 2014). In 2014 Askew Publications issued his epic poem, A. Lincolniad.