Faculty poet wins two prestigious awards
Fredonia, NY -- New poems written by SUNY Fredonia English Professor Aimee Nezhukumatathil and published by Tupelo Press have reaped two prestigious awards.
The Balcones Center for Creative Writing at Austin (Texas) Community College selected her book, "At the Drive-In Volcano," as the winner of its 2007 Balcones Poetry Prize. The prize of $1,000 recognizes her work as the most outstanding book of poetry published during the year. The center will bring Ms. Nezhukumatathil to Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus for a reading this fall.
One poem in the book, "Love in the Orangery," has won the Pushcart Prize, an eminent American literary prize that honors the best poetry, short fiction, essays or other literature published in the small presses over the previous year. As a result, the poem will be published in the anthology, "Pushcart Prize 2009: Best of the Small Presses."
In her book, "At the Drive-In Volcano," Ms. Nezhukumatathil examines the full circle journey of desire, loss, and ultimately, an exuberant love-traveling around a world brimming with wild and delicious offerings such as iced waterfalls, jackfruit, and pistol shrimp. From the tropical landscapes of the Caribbean, India, and the Philippines to the deep winters of western New York and mild autumns of Ohio, the natural world the writer describes is dark but also lovely-so full of enchantment and magic. Here, worms glow in the dark, lizards speak, the most delicious soup in the world turns out to be deadly, and a woman eats soil as if it were candy.
Her previous book of poems, "Miracle Fruit" (2003), won the Tupelo Press Prize, the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award in poetry, and the Global Filipino Award. Her poetry and essays have been widely anthologized and have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Black Warrior Review, FIELD, Mid-American Review,and Tin House. Her poems and essay on poet Naomi Shihab Nye were published in the new book, Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections, published by University of Iowa Press.
SUNY Fredonia has honored Ms. Nezhukumatathil with the Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award and she holds a Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities from the State University of New York.
The author lives in Dunkirk with her husband, Dustin Parsons, an assistant professor of English at SUNY Fredonia, and their son, Pascal.
The Balcones Center for Creative Writing at Austin (Texas) Community College selected her book, "At the Drive-In Volcano," as the winner of its 2007 Balcones Poetry Prize. The prize of $1,000 recognizes her work as the most outstanding book of poetry published during the year. The center will bring Ms. Nezhukumatathil to Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus for a reading this fall.
One poem in the book, "Love in the Orangery," has won the Pushcart Prize, an eminent American literary prize that honors the best poetry, short fiction, essays or other literature published in the small presses over the previous year. As a result, the poem will be published in the anthology, "Pushcart Prize 2009: Best of the Small Presses."
In her book, "At the Drive-In Volcano," Ms. Nezhukumatathil examines the full circle journey of desire, loss, and ultimately, an exuberant love-traveling around a world brimming with wild and delicious offerings such as iced waterfalls, jackfruit, and pistol shrimp. From the tropical landscapes of the Caribbean, India, and the Philippines to the deep winters of western New York and mild autumns of Ohio, the natural world the writer describes is dark but also lovely-so full of enchantment and magic. Here, worms glow in the dark, lizards speak, the most delicious soup in the world turns out to be deadly, and a woman eats soil as if it were candy.
Her previous book of poems, "Miracle Fruit" (2003), won the Tupelo Press Prize, the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award in poetry, and the Global Filipino Award. Her poetry and essays have been widely anthologized and have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Black Warrior Review, FIELD, Mid-American Review,and Tin House. Her poems and essay on poet Naomi Shihab Nye were published in the new book, Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections, published by University of Iowa Press.
SUNY Fredonia has honored Ms. Nezhukumatathil with the Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award and she holds a Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities from the State University of New York.
The author lives in Dunkirk with her husband, Dustin Parsons, an assistant professor of English at SUNY Fredonia, and their son, Pascal.
