Poet Billy Collins to judge UA Press poetry entries

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will edit the Miller Williams Poetry Series from the University of Arkansas Press, the publisher of Collins’ first book of poetry.

“The fact that the press helped launch Billy Collins’ career is a source of pride for us all here at the press,” said Director Mike Bieker in a statement announcing the appointment. “We are thrilled to have him as series editor. This change is exciting because it harkens back to our roots while at the same time taking us into the future.”

Collins will judge this year’s poetry submissions and help select the winner of the $5,000 prize associated with the poetry series, said David Scott Cunningham, an editor with the UA Press. The award will be announced next year and poetry books edited by Collins -finalists’ works are also often published, Cunningham said - will be published in 2016.

The press in 1988, at the time led by Miller Williams,published Collins’ The Apple That Astonished Paris. Collins gained widespread acclaim in the early 1990s, according to the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation, holding U.S. poet laureate status from 2001-03.

In a statement, Collins referenced the perspective of Williams, himself a well-respected poet.

“The driving values of the series and the prize will be consonant with Williams’s sense of what constitutes good poetry,” said Collins. “In his practice as a poet and his work as an editor, Williams favored poetry that showed an awareness of its reader, poetry that was plain spoken but also dealt with the most essential experiences of being human.”

Williams, in a statement, called the appointment “a marvelous decision.”

The Apple That Astonished Paris remains one of the press’ best-selling books. For serving as editor, Collins will receive an honorarium of $5,000, Cunningham said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 04/24/2014

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