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PLEASE NOTE: The next Chapbook contest is expected to be August 1 - Sept. 30, 2013.
The Comstock Writers' Group Editors are pleased to announce our
The Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest Winner 2011
(Prize: $1,000 and Fifty Copies of the Winning Chapbook)
Lucinda Grey of Charlotte, NC
The Blue Hills: Poems After the Life of Maud Gonne
Second Place
David Stallings of Bainbridge Island, WA
Resurrection Bay
Third Place
Judith Werner of Brooklyn, NY
Consider the Birds of the Air
HONORABLE MENTION CHAPBOOKS (IN ALPHABETIC ORDER)
Bridget Gage-Dixon of Jackson, NJ
for Words that White Girls Shouldn’t Say
Ellaraine Lockie of Sunnyvale, CA for
Ain’t I a Woman (In honor of Sojourner Truth’s speech ...)
Trent Nutting of Wallingford, CT for Substance, Burning
Clara Quinlan of Louisville, CO for Northing
Bruce Sager of Westminster, MD for Evening Song
Edwina Trenthamn of Moodus, CT for Still on this Earth
SPECIAL MERIT CHAPBOOKS (IN ALPHABETIC ORDER)
Mary Christine Delea of Oregon City, OR for Lawn Guy Land
Jane Downs of Kensington, CA for April Elegy
Ken Fifer of Center Valley, PA for Maps
Priscilla Frake of Sugar Land, TX for Correspondence
Roberta Hatcher of Pittsburgh, PA
for We Go Out So Far, We Return
Judy Ireland of West Palm Beach, FL for Cement Shoes
Reeves Keyworth, of Tucson, AZ
for Transvestite & Partner, With Seashells
Kathleen Kirk of Normal, IL for Spiritual Midwifery
Ellen Mainville of Malone, NY for The House that Walks into the Sea
K.A. McGowan of Duson, LA for Diminished
Natasha Murdock of Tempe, AZ for The Body Voids
Patricia Murphy of Clinton, NY for The Occupant
Denise Rue of North Brunswick, NJ for A Small System of Belief
Dirk Stratton of Mead, WA for Love Songs for the Apocalypse
We regret we have only one monetary prize to award and congratulate all the top chapbooks that were considered by the Final Judge, Kathleen Bryce Niles.
All contestants will receive a copy of the winning chapbook upon publication. Please keep your address current with us.
2009 JESSIE BRYCE NILES
CHAPBOOK CONTEST WINNER
as selected by Kathleen Bryce Niles, Final Judge
Lynne Martin Bowman from Greensboro, NC
W a t e r N e v e r S l e e p s
Check back later for an updated photo of our winner and comments on her forthcoming chapbook! Meanwhile, more information about her is available at Triad Writers,org (scroll down) and about the book at North Carolina Writers' Network . Pre-publication copies available at present at $10 + $2 S&H. Send check to Comstock Review address. (posted 1-16-11)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
(in alphabetic order)
Sally Albiso, Port Angeles, WA - Last Words
Elizabeth Kerlikowske, Kalamazoo, MI - Rib
Susan Jo Russell, Somerville, MA - Southern Girl
Rosemary R. Royston, Blairsville, GA - Two Minutes Shy
Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, Ithaca, NY - Wild Margin
SPECIAL MERIT CHAPBOOKS
Linda Alexander-Rosas, Tampa, FL - Summer of the Other Woman
Bruce Barton, Wellsboro, PA - Cancellations
Naomi Benaron, Tucson, AZ - Prayer Like a Desert Wind
Ben Berman, Somerville, MA - Moving On
Michelle Bitting, Pacific Palisades, CA - Meteor
Jacob Boyd, Waukesha, WI - The Whole Poisonous Thing
Gaylord Brewer, Lascassas, TN - Ghost
Leisha Douglas, Katonah, NY - The Season of Drunken Bees
Linda Lee Harper, Augusta, GA - Soliciting the Dead
Holly Karapetkova, Arlington, VA - The Book of Bad Mothers
Robert King, Greeley, CO - Rodin & Company
Katie Kingston, Trinidad, CO - Shaking the Kaleidoscope
Michael Meyerhofer, Muncie, IN - Just So
Rosemary Dunn Moeller, St. Lawrence, SD - Higher Perspective
David Sloan, Brunswick, ME - The Irresistible In-Between
John Spaulding, Tucson, AZ - Hospital
Phillip Sterling, Ada, MI - First Service
Ruth Thompson, Colden, NY - Crone on Cazenovia Creek
William Winston, Oakland, CA - Zell Kravinsky's Next to Last Wish
2007 JESSIE BRYCE NILES
CHAPBOOK CONTEST WINNER
Jennifer Key, from Dallas, TX
The Manifest Destiny of Desire
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From Kathleen Bryce Niles, Contest Judge
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After reading literally hundreds of chapbooks, the Editorial Staff of The Comstock Review sends me about thirty finalists for each of the Jessie Bryce Niles Competitions. These are considered to be the best of the best.
However, each time, there has always been one chapbook that leaps to the top for me. Jennifer Key has written that chapbook. It is one of the finest poetry books that you will ever read.
Keep in mind that The Comstock Review is 23 years old....we have read hundreds of thousands of poems by now. We know great poetry. This is great poetry.
You will not be disappointed.
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In language eloquent and precise, these elegiac and lyrical poems illumine the landscapes of loss and the permanence of desire in a transitory world, embracing both the leavings and retrievings that can efface and grace our lives. Although it may well be true, as Key writes in "Still Life with Jackie O," that "Perfection pleases us. We pick it over happiness," there is no need to pick here: these perfect lucent poems will make any reader happy.
It's a beautiful, beautiful book.
Ronald Wallace Felix Pollak Professor of Poetry and Halls-Bascom Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison |
HONORABLE MENTIONS 2007
(in alphabetic order)
Shannon Amidon, Hilo, HI - Stridor
Reeves Keyworth, Tucson, AZ - Ardency in the Anglo Saxon
Lisa Krueger, Pasadena, CA - Gardening on the Job
Bill Van Buskirk, Wayne, PA - Everything That's Fragile is Important
SPECIAL MERIT FINALISTS 2007
George Bandy, Falls Church, VA - The Story Box
Joan E. Bauer , Pittsburgh, PA - Sonya in Manhattan
Richard M. Berlin, Richmond, MA, - What a Psychiatrist Remembers
Ben Berman, Brighton, MA - Moving On
Bruce Bond, Denton, TX - Djembe
Susan Howard Case, Leverett, MA - Blown Roses
James L. Dickson, Jackson, MS - Cloven
Yahya Fredrickson, Moorhead, MN - Month of Honey, Month of Missiles
Alice George, Evanston, IL - Solving Crime
Shaun T. Griffin, Virginia City, NV - Harobed
Christina Hutchins, Albany, CA - Public notice
Sharon Kessler, Pardes Hanna, Israel - Mediterranean Dust Experiment
Keetje Kuipers, Missoula, MT - What Afterlife
Katharyn Howd Machan, Ithaca, NY - The Knife I Gave My Brother
Sally Molini, Omaha, NE - Food Chain Dilemmas
A. Mary Murphy, Winnipeg, MB, Canada - More than a Foreskin:
(Old Testaments from Biblical Women)
Pam O'Brien, Pittsburgh, PA - Acceptable Losses
Lisa Ortiz, San Francisco, CA - Happy
Lynn Pedersen, Kennesaw, GA - Theories of Rain
R. Russell, Monona, WI - Witness
Teya Schaffer, Oakland, CA - The Silent Poems
J. D. Schraffenberger, Vestal, NY - Brother Tom
Sarah Sloat, Frankfurt, Germany - In the Voice of a Minor Saint
Judith Sornberger, Wellsboro, PA - Wal-Mart Orchid
Burlee Vang, Fresno, CA - Tiger in America
WE THANK ALL OUR CONTESTANTS. Each contestant will receive a copy of the
winning chapbook to be published in 2008.
FROM OUR JUDGE: As always, selecting the winner of the Jessie Bryce Niles competition proved daunting. Scores of chapbooks arrived in Buffalo from the preliminary Comstock Review judges with the imperative that I find the absolute best of the lot. There were over thirty outstanding chapbooks that each passed the scrutiny of our most critical readers . Each is highly publishable. All will, in time, find publication. Thus, it became which one of these excellent books did I want associated most with my beloved grandmother’s name. "Most" is the operative word here as she would be proud of any of them. In the final analysis, it was Jennifer Key’s exquisite work that captured my attention and held it through several readings. It was this beautifully crafted and considered work that will be read and re-read in perpetuity. The charm and consistency of this piece will give poets and non-poets alike the opportunity to find intelligence and wit in layer after layer of beautiful poetry written with style and grace. It is my honor to make The Manifest Destiny of Desire our 2007 Jessie Bryce Niles chapbook competition winner. -- Kathleen Bryce Niles, December 2007
Comstock Review Editors who participated in reviewing chapbooks in 2007 were
Betsy Anderson, John M. Bellinger, Anne Fitzgerald, Peggy Sperber Flanders,
Jennifer MacPherson, Michael McAnaney, Ellen McNeal, Peggy Miller,
Kate Murphy, Michael Sickler, and Mary McLaughlin Slechta
We invite you to order a copy of the winning chapbooks
at $11 including postage. (Winner 2007 publication delayed to 2009 due to consultation between author and CR.)
Send check to Comstock Review, 4956 St. John Drive,
Syracuse, NY 13215
2005 JESSIE BRYCE NILES CHAPBOOK CONTEST WINNER as selected by Kathleen Bryce Niles, Final Judge
J. F. Connolly, from Milton, MA
Among the Living
HONORABLE MENTIONS 2005
(in alphabetic order)
Charles Atkinson, Soquel, CA — Slim Pension
Judith Barrington, Portland, OR — The Heavens Below
Michelle Bitting, Pacific Palisades, CA — Good Friday Kiss
C.L. Bledsoe, Roanoke, VA — Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down
Mary Buchinger, Cambridge, MA — The Care and Feeding of Clay
Sue D. Burton, Burlington, VT — Little Steel
Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, Draper, UT — Her Side of It
Anne Carroll Fowler, Jamacia Plain, MA — All Flame
Jude Goodwin, Squamish, BC, Canada — Counting Ships
Jennifer Jerome, New York, NY — Winds in the Story
Jo Bowman Kennedy, Richmond, VA — Equinox
Kathleen Kirk, Normal, IL — Broken Sonnets
Jill Karle Leahman, Charlottesville, VA — What There Is
Eleanor Stanford, Philadelphia, PA — Deciduous
2003 JESSIE BRYCE NILES CHAPBOOK CONTEST WINNER as selected by Kathleen Bryce Niles, Final Judge
Sophie Wadsworth from Harvard, MA
Letters from Siberia
For more information, samples of poetry
in chapbook and a photo of the author, click here.
(article written before chapbook was published)
Chapbook Contest 2003 Honorable Mentions
First: Judith Goldhaber, Berkeley, CA --The Garden Spider & Other Poems
Second: Kelsea Kluane Smith, Point Hope, AK -- Out of Tenderness
Third: Kathryn E. Clement, Mesa, AZ -- Water from Stones
Fourth: Linda H. Elegant LaGrande, OR --The True Engine & Other Poems
Letters from Siberia can be purchased at the following stores:
Willow Books, Acton MA
Concord Bookshop, Concord, MA
Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
Sarasota Books & News, Sarasota, FL
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