Danuta E. Kosk-Kosicka was named winner of CityLit Press's fifth annual Harriss Poetry Prize for her chapbook manuscript, "Oblige the Light." She rose above eight other finalists to earn the award, which includes 50 gratis copies of her chapbook and $500. "Oblige the Light" will be published in Spring 2015.
Dr. Michael Salcman, the poetry series editor, served as final judge.
Born and raised in Poland, Kosk-Kosicka is a scientist, bilingual poet, writer, poetry translator, photographer, and co-editor of the literary journal
Loch Raven Review. Her poems have appeared in the U.S.A., Ireland, Sweden, and Poland in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including
The Baltimore Review,
Beltway Poetry Review,
Ellipsis: Literature and Art,
Inner Art Journal,
International Poetry Review,
Little Patuxent Review,
Mobius,
Passager,
Pirene's Fountain,
Pivot,
Rufous Salon,
Spillway,
Theodate,
Van Gogh's Ear,
Akcent, as well as
Stranger at Home: Anthology of American Poetry with an Accent,
Thy Mother's Glass, and
Weavings 2000: Maryland Millennia/Anthology. Her translations of poems by three Maryland Poets Laureate-Lucille Clifton, Josephine Jacobsen, and Linda Pastan have been published in Poland; her translations of poems by Lidia Kosk, Ernest Bryll, and Wislawa Szymborska have appeared in over 50 publications in the U.S.A. She is the translator for two bilingual books of poems by Lidia Kosk,
niedosyt/reshapings and
Slodka woda, slona woda/Sweet Water, Salt Water, the latter of which she has also edited.
Due to scheduling conflicts on the publisher's part, original judge Michael Afaa Weaver was unable to serve in that role.
Launched in 2009, the Harriss Poetry Prize is named in honor of Clarinda Harriss, eminent Baltimore poet, publisher, and professor of English at Towson University. Harriss, educated at Johns Hopkins University and Goucher College, is a widely published, award-winning poet and, off campus, serves as editor/director of BrickHouse Books, Inc., Maryland’s oldest literary press.
Deadline for the sixth annual Harriss Poetry Prize is December 1, 2014. Award-winning poet Erica Dawson, Professor of English at the University of Tampa, will serve as judge. More information and complete guidelines here.
