Atrophy selected for John Lent Poetry and Prose Award
A nation-wide poetry competition has found a winner right here in the Okanagan.
Kalamalka Press, based out of Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, announced that Erin Scott’s manuscript, entitled Atrophy, has been selected as the John Lent Poetry/Prose Award winner for 2019.
“There's a gorgeous weight to Atrophy and at the same it's marked by such a sharp self-awareness – in this way all of its voices/sounds strike us as sweetly human,” says judges Jake Kennedy, an OC instructor, and Vernon-based novelist and poet Laisha Rosnau.
“The music of the manuscript is never forced or ironic — and the narrative of the poem itself has an undeniable urgency. We think this is beautiful work and we’re thrilled to select it for the John Lent Poetry and Prose Award.”
Atrophy meditates on time and loss, while reflecting on the sacredness of landscapes. The judges also remarked that Scott’s work explores core themes found in the work of John Lent – the competition’s namesake and founding member of Kalamalka Press, who taught creative writing and literature courses at Okanagan College for 26 years.
Scott is a poet and performer living and working in the traditional and unceded territory of the Syilx-Okanagan people in Kelowna. Her work has appeared in Ricepaper Magazine, at InspiraTO Festival, Living Things Festival, and is forthcoming in subTerrain Magazine. She holds a Master in Fine Arts from UBC, works extensively in the community arts sector in the Okanagan, and is mother to two daughters.
The national competition drew dozens of entries from poets in the early stages of their writing careers. Ben Rawluk’s untitled manuscript was named first runner-up, and honourable mentions went to Dale Tracy’s The Mystery of the Ornament and Jermy Stewart’s from East Beach.
Kalamalka Press supports Okanagan College’s Writing and Publishing Diploma program, providing students with practical, hands-on experience designing, setting and producing letterpress-printed chapbooks, broadsheets and posters.
Kalamalka Press has published books of poetry, fiction, and literary criticism, while, more recently, it has focused on letterpress-printed, hand-bound limited editions. Recent authors include Ariel Gordon, Nikki Sheppy, Lindsay Cahill and Angeline Schellenberg.
For information about Kalamalka Press, visit www.kalamalkapress.ca. For information on Okanagan College’s Writing and Publishing Diploma program, visit www.okanagan.bc.ca/writingpublishing.
