Calvin prof wins Iowa Poetry Prize

Summary: Calvin professor of English Lew Klatt is the recipient of the Iowa Poetry Prize, an award bestowed on a poetry collection in its unpublished form every two years.

See full story: http://www.calvin.edu/news/2009-10/iowa-prize

Professor of English Lew Klatt's most recent poetry collection, "Cloud of Ink," won the 2010 Iowa Poetry Prize and will be published by The University of Iowa Press.

The Iowa Poetry Prize, established in 1990, is bestowed on a poetry collection in its unpublished form every two years. Klatt is one of two recipients of the 2010 award.

"Cloud of Ink," whose title refers to the ink cloud squirted by an octopus, explores Klatt's preoccupation with language as obfuscation. Klatt said that his latest work celebrates the versatility of language and, at the same time, explores its limits.

"Poets especially want to memorialize themselves with words, but none of it is permanent," said Klatt. "They may be remembered by their own generation or even subsequent ones, but history is the ultimate eraser. The comfort for the Christian writer is to understand that her words have not been wasted; for a time and for a season, the poems entertain, provoke. Perhaps God himself enjoys them."

Klatt has published poems in many journals, including the "Columbia Poetry Review", the "Notre Dame Review," the "Boston Review," the "Denver Quarterly," the "Chicago Review," "FIELD," the "Cincinnati Review," "jubilat," the "Colorado Review," the "Iowa Review," "Eleven Eleven" and "Verse." His 2009 collection, "Interloper," was honored with the Juniper Prize.

For more info, contact Lew Klatt at 616-526-7530 or lsk4@calvin.edu

-end-
Received on Tue Aug 10 12:20:17 2010