Jane Underwood Poetry Prize
About the Prize
The Jane Underwood Poetry Prize was established to celebrate and memorialize Jane Underwood, the founder and long-time director of The Writing Salon who passed away in 2016. Jane was a gifted poet who made The Writing Salon a prominent and respected creative writing school in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was well known for her generous spirit and her direct and encouraging teaching style. A posthumous collection of her poems, entitled When My Heart Goes Dark, I Turn the Porch Light On, was published in 2017. Open to all poets, the prize is awarded for a single poem. This year’s final judge is Craig Santos Perez.
2022
Congratulations to the Winner!
The 2022 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize winner is Purvi Shah for her poem “In a womb – a new era – & Kali’s tongue.”
Finalists:
T.S. Leonard
Emily Pulfer-Terino
Brenda Yeager
LiAnne Yu
The Prizewinner Will Receive
An award of $500
Publication of the winning poem at The Writing Salon’s website
An invitation to do a featured reading at The Writing Salon
Contest Guidelines
- The contest is open to all poets.
- The entry fee is $15. This fee is non-refundable.
- Contestants may submit one entry of up to 3 poems. Poems must be sent in a single file.
- Each of the 3 poems may not exceed 80 lines in length.
- We do not consider previously published work, which includes online publications.
- Files should not include any information that reveals the identity of the author. Any entries that reveal the author’s identity will be discounted.
- File name must include the full or abbreviated title of each poem submitted.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Notify us immediately if a poem is placed elsewhere by sending an email to submissions@writingsalons.com.
- Email and mail submissions will not be read.
- All rights revert to the author upon publication of the poem.
- The winner and finalists will be announced at our website.
Important Contest Dates
Submission Period:
October 01, 2023 – December 01, 2023
Closed to Submissions
The Winner & Finalists will be
announced in March 2024.
Important Contest Dates
Submission Period:
October 01, 2023 – December 01, 2023
Closed to Submissions
The Winner & Finalists will be
announced in March 2024.
Contest Guidelines
- The contest is open to all poets.
- The entry fee is $15. This fee is non-refundable.
- Contestants may submit one entry of up to 3 poems. Poems must be sent in a single file.
- Each of the 3 poems may not exceed 80 lines in length.
- We do not consider previously published work, which includes online publications.
- Files should not include any information that reveals the identity of the author. Any entries that reveal the author’s identity will be discounted.
- File name must include the full or abbreviated title of each poem submitted.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Notify us immediately if a poem is placed elsewhere by sending an email to submissions@writingsalons.com.
- Email and mail submissions will not be read.
- All rights revert to the author upon publication of the poem.
- The winner and finalists will be announced at our website.
Reading Policy
We believe that blind judging offers contestants a fair and unbiased reading of their work. We assure all contestants that their identity will not be revealed to our readers and ask that they refrain from including identifying information on their submissions. A selection of poets will screen the entries, and Craig Santos Perez will be the final judge. All readers have a distinguished publication record and have won major poetry prizes. Each entry will pass through at least two readers.
2023 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize Final Judge
Craig Santos Perez is an indigenous Chamoru from Guam. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of six books of poetry and the academic monograph Navigating Chamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization (2022). He is also the co-editor of seven anthologies, including Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia (2019) and Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures (2022).
Hear from Our Judge
Poetry has always been important parts of political movements, and political movements have always inspired poetry. Poetry can help us articulate our own politics and interrogate oppressive structures and the language(s) of power. Poetry is a form of empowerment and inspiration. Poetry is a creative act amidst acts of destructive violence. Poetry is an expression of dignity, humanity, resilience, and hope.
Craig Santos Perez is an indigenous Chamoru from Guam. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of six books of poetry and the academic monograph Navigating Chamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization (2022). He is also the co-editor of seven anthologies, including Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia (2019) and Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures (2022).
Hear from Our Judge
Poetry has always been important parts of political movements, and political movements have always inspired poetry. Poetry can help us articulate our own politics and interrogate oppressive structures and the language(s) of power. Poetry is a form of empowerment and inspiration. Poetry is a creative act amidst acts of destructive violence. Poetry is an expression of dignity, humanity, resilience, and hope.
Past Winners
2022 – Purvi Shah: In a womb – a new era – & Kali’s tongue (selected by Sharan Strange)
2021 – Sydney Vogl: All the Bars Are Closing (selected by Vandana Khanna)
2020 – Kelly Grace Thomas: Nothing Roots or Infertility (selected by David Hernandez)
2019 – John Sibley Williams: Armistice (selected by Rick Barot)
2018 – Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet: When the women imagine their mothers in death (selected by Arisa White)
2017 – Amanda Moore: When I Hear “Horses” as “Corsets” (selected by Julie Bruck, Alison Luterman & Kathleen McClung)
Past Winners
2022 – Purvi Shah: In a womb – a new era – & Kali’s tongue (selected by Sharan Strange)
2021 – Sydney Vogl: All the Bars Are Closing (selected by Vandana Khanna)
2020 – Kelly Grace Thomas: Nothing Roots or Infertility (selected by David Hernandez)
2019 – John Sibley Williams: Armistice (selected by Rick Barot)
2018 – Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet: When the women imagine their mothers in death (selected by Arisa White)
2017 – Amanda Moore: When I Hear “Horses” as “Corsets” (selected by Julie Bruck, Alison Luterman & Kathleen McClung)
Ready to Submit Your Poems for the 2023 Competition?
Lisa Gluskin StonestreetLisa Gluskin Stonestreet
Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet is the author of The Greenhouse (Frost Place Chapbook Prize) and Tulips, Water, Ash (Morse Poetry Prize). Her poems have appeared in journals such as Blackbird, Kenyon Review, Plume, and Zyzzyva, in anthologies including Nasty Women Poets and The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, and online at Poem-A-Day and Poetry Daily. In addition to leading workshops at Portland’s Literary Arts, Seattle’s Hugo House, and The Writing Salon, she hosts the Portland reading series Lilla Lit and Literary Bingo and works as a freelance editor of poetry and nonfiction. Before fleeing northward in search of writer-friendly rents, she taught in UC Berkeley’s Post-Baccalaureate Writing Program.
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