Poetry Foundation Announces the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows

CHICAGO, August 13, 2024—The Poetry Foundation announces the 2024 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows: Rob Macaisa Colgate, Marissa Davis, Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras, Chandanie Somwaru, and marion eames white.

Since 1989, the Poetry Foundation has awarded fellowships to outstanding young poets in recognition of their current and potential future contributions to the field. The $27,000 prize makes the fellowships among the largest awards available to young poets in the United States. Each fellow receives a subscription and an invitation to publish in Poetry magazine. Additionally, the Poetry Foundation will sponsor their attendance at the Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey, where they'll participate in a public reading on October 19, 2024. 

“We are so honored to recognize this group of brilliant young poets with the fellowship,” said Adrian Matejka, editor of Poetry magazine. “Their poetry is exceptional in both substance and style. It extends beyond the page, too, as they are each dedicated community members and supporters of our art. My heartfelt congratulations to the fellows and all the finalists.” 

Introducing the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows

Rob Macaisa Colgate (he/she/they) is a disabled, bakla poet and playwright. Colgate is the author of the poetry collection Hardly Creatures and the verse drama My Love is Water. His work has been published by Best New Poets, American Poetry Review, and the Academy of American Poets, among others. 

Marissa Davis (she/her) is a poet and translator from Paducah, Kentucky. In 2023, Davis received an Emerging Translator Mentorship Fellowship from the American Literary Translators Association. Her chapbook, My Name & Other Languages I Am Learning How to Speak was selected for Cave Canem’s 2019 Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Prize. Davis’s poetry has been published in Prairie Schooner, Poetry, Gulf Coast, and other journals. 

Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras (she/her) was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and identifies as both an indígena and an undocumented poet of Zapotecan descent. Her work has been published in Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora; About Place Journal; Small Press Traffic; and the Academy of American Poets, among other outlets. 

Chandanie Somwaru (she/her) is an Indo-Caribbean woman born and raised in Queens, New York. Somwaru earned an MFA at Queens College, CUNY. She is the author of Urgent \\ Where the Mind Goes \\ Scattered. Her writing has been published by the Academy of American Poets, Honey Literary, Solstice, SWWIM, The Margins, and other outlets. She was the first runner-up for the 2023 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award. 

marion eames white (they/them) is a Black, trans poet from New York. Their work has been published by the American Academy of Religion, Stone of Madness Press, UNICA, and more. white is an interdisciplinary artist and a scholar of religion. Their poetics combines translation theory with biblical genealogy to subvert hegemonic Western traditions and welcome Othered bodies into larger conversations of sacrality and belonging.

The Poetry Foundation also congratulates the 2024 fellowship finalists:

• Adedayo Agarau
• Threa Almontaser
• Shlagha Borah
• Isabella DeSendi
• Stefania Gomez
• Abhijit Sarmah
• Kira Alexis Tucker

2024 Decision Process

Each application to the 2024 fellowships was read by two of 30 external readers; then a panel of five external reviewers read all the top-scoring applications to select 12 finalists and subsequently, the five fellows.

The Poetry Foundation would like to thank the following readers and reviewers for their time and careful consideration:

• Eloisa Amezcua
• Rosemary Barilla
• Esther Belin
• Cynthia Borah
• Emily Brandt
• CM Burroughs
• Asia Calcagno
• Imani Cezanne
• Juan Delgado
• t’ai freedom ford
• Tere Fowler-Chapman
• Gabriela Denise Frank
• Naoko Fujimoto
• Laura Goldstein
• Nicholas Goodly
• C.R. Grimmer
• Sarah Gzemski
• Nathan Hoks
• Ish Klein
• Ben Kline
• Taylor Johnson
• Jacqueline Jones LaMon
• Craig Lawrence
• Lisa Low
• Vi Khi Nao
• Natalie Perman
• C. Russell Price
• Michael Robins
• Mira Rosenthal
• Janice Lobo Sapigao
• Danniel Schoonebeek
• Precious Symonette
• Kenneth Tokuno

Questions and comments about the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships can be directed to [email protected].

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About the Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives. We work to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry. Follow the Poetry Foundation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X), and Poetry at @PoetryMagazine.

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