Levis Reading Prize: No Entry Fee - Deadline 2/1/2009

LEVIS READING PRIZE – SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED: FEBRUARY 1, 2009

The Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University is
pleased to announce its call for submissions for the 12th Annual
Levis Reading Prize., VCU's annual award to the best first or second
book of poetry published in the calendar year. As in years past,
there is no entry fee. Interested publishers/authors should follow
these simple guidelines:

• Entries may be submitted by either author or publisher, and must
include a copy of the book (48 pages or more), a cover letter, and a
brief biography of the author including previous publications.
(Entries from vanity presses are not eligible.) The book must have
been published in the calendar year 2008. Entrants wishing
acknowledgment of receipt must include a self-addressed stamped
postcard.

• Entries must be received by February 1, 2009. Materials received
after that date will be returned unopened. Because we cannot
guarantee their return, all entries will become the property of the
VCU Department of English.

• Send all materials to: Levis Reading Prize, VCU Department of
English, P.O. Box 842005, Richmond, VA 23284-2005

Judges will come from faculty of the VCU Department of English and the VCU MFA Program in Creative Writing. The winner will receive an honorarium of $1000 and will be invited, expenses paid, to Richmond to present a public reading in September 2009. In memory of Larry Levis, the distinguished poet and teacher who was our colleague until his untimely death in 1996, VCU aims to encourage poets early in their careers by sponsoring an annual award for the best first or second book of poetry. The 2008 Prize was awarded to Matthew Donovan for his collection Vellum, published by Mariner Books. Previous prizes have gone to Joshua Weiner his collection From the Book of Giants , Ron Slate for The Incentive of the Maggot, Spencer Reece for The Clerk's Tale, David Daniel for Seven-Star Bird, Susan Aizenberg for Muse, Steve Scafidi for Sparks from a Nine-Pound Hammer, Nick Flynn for Some Ether, Joel Brouwer for Exactly What Happened, Sandra Alcosser for Except by Nature, and Belle Waring for
Dark Blonde.

For further information, call 804.828.1329 or e-mail tndidato@vcu.edu