Series Editors: Chris Abani and Susannah Young-ah Gottlieb
The Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize, a first-book award for poets of color, is a partnership between Northwestern University’s Poetry and Poetics Colloquium and Northwestern University Press. This annual award combines the efforts of both organizations in celebrating and publishing works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence.
Seeking to showcase the work of emerging poets of color, the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize was established in 2012. Writers who first appeared in this series include Ama Codjoe, Jenny Xie, Nicole Sealey, and Marcelo Hernandez Castillo.
We would like to thank all those who played a part in curating and editing the series during its initial run: John Alba Cutler, Reginald Gibbons, John Keene, Ed Roberson, Matthew Shenoda, and Natasha Tretheway. The series returns with two primary editors, Chris Abani and Susannah Young-ah Gottlieb. Susannah Young-ah Gottlieb founded the series, and Chris Abani has been a long-time member of its editorial board.
Congratulations to Jonathan Fletcher, winner of the 2023 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. His book, This Is My Body: Poems, will be published by Northwestern University Press in 2025.
Information about the 2024 award cycle will be shared this summer.
Migrant Psalms
Blood of the Air
Some Girls Survive on Their Sorcery Alone
Creance; or, Comest Thou Cosmic Nazarite
Dulce
Nowhere to Arrive
The University of Hip-Hop
The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named