The poet’s job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it.”
Jane Kenyon, from an interview in her book Hundred White Daffodils
About the Jane Kenyon Chapbook Prize for University of Michigan Undergraduates
The Jane Kenyon Prize for UM undergraduates serves two primary purposes: to create a space for UM undergrads to publish their work to a larger audience and to facilitate dialogue between the different spheres of writers in Ann Arbor.
Chapbooks, a short and usually thematic collection of poetry, showcase a writer’s poetic range and ability to sustain a project over 20-30 pages. While not as long as full collections, chapbooks have long been the home of lyric essays, overarching poetic narratives, and individual poems that link together into a larger thesis. This, then, is creating a new opportunity for undergraduates to have the megaphone for a moment to voice their ideas and experiences in this complex and rapidly changing world.
In practical terms, the Jane Kenyon Chapbook Prize includes a public reading and publication of one winner’s chapbook, which will be available at Literati, online, and through local bookstands. Lastly, all finalists will have the opportunity to publish one of the poems from their manuscript on our website as well as receiving a broadside from one of their poems.
To learn more about this project, please read the About Us page.
Who’s Eligible to Submit Work
Currently enrolled undergraduate students at University of Michigan for the Fall 2019 and Winter 2020 semesters.
(Note: While we encourage you do, you don’t have to have taken ENG 223 or even any English classes at all to submit a manuscript for consideration.)
Finalists
Five or less manuscripts will be chosen as finalists and passed along to our judge
If you are a finalist, you will have the title of your manuscript, your name, and a selection (a single poem or section) from the manuscript published on our website. Additionally, you will receive a broadside of a poem from your manuscript.
Chapbook Winners
The winner will have their chapbook bound and published, receive three copies of their winning chapbook for free, and read from the manuscript at Literati for the books’ release.
