Roberta Beary a Finalist in The Poetry Society of America Awards

It is rare when a haiku collection receives recognition from mainstream poetry reviewers or organizations, but Roberta Beary's The Unworn Necklace has done just that. Roberta was one of two finalists for the William Carlos Williams Award given by the Poetry Society of America.

According to the PSA Web site, the William Carlos Williams Award "... is for a book of poetry published by a small press, non-profit, or university press. Original works by a single author who is a permanent resident of the United States will be considered." Details below from Snapshot Press . . .

"Snapshot Press is delighted that The Unworn Necklace, Roberta Beary’s collection of haiku and senryu, was selected as a ‘finalist’ in the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award.

This is a rare, major recognition for haiku by the poetry mainstream.

Roberta attended the 98th Annual Awards ceremony in New York City last night, where she enjoyed the company of Cor van den Heuvel (editor of The Haiku Anthology) and his wife, Leigh.

The Award winner was Aram Saroyan’s collected work, Complete Minimal Poems. There was one other finalist: Sorry, Tree by Eileen Myles.

The judge, Ron Silliman, has today written about the finalists on his hugely influential literary blog http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/. He concludes that “Absent Aram Saroyan’s Complete Minimal Poems, I knew I would have given the WCW Award to one of these two books. That is really all that distinguishes them from the 16 other great books I was still enthralled with as I finished my work for the Poetry Society of America. The only thing these books share in common is their power, and it’s interesting to imagine what kind of statement either would have made had it been the volume selected. This is what I just hate about contests. Each of these volumes is a total winner.”

Within the blog entry he writes extensively about The Unworn Necklace – interestingly considering haiku in a wider poetic sense – and concluding that:

“the aesthetic here of absolutely minimal strokes accumulating to create a far more powerful picture is really overwhelming. This is a book I never would have picked up – probably never would have seen, although it’s already gone into a second printing – that made me completely grateful to the Poetry Society of America and the Williams Carlos Williams Award for putting it into my hands.”
He also notes that “ . . . it was the only British book in the entire process – Snapshot Press is one of the standard-bearers for haiku and tanka,“ adding, quite correctly, that we “thus far (have) a pretty rudimentary website”!

We feel this landmark achievement for the ‘haiku community’ underlines a belief that haiku has a considerable potential audience beyond this community, and that English-language haiku of the highest quality can break down barriers that both exist, and are perceived to exist, between ‘mainstream’ poetry and haiku. This will ultimately be to the benefit of all in the haiku community – haiku needs readers – but it will only be possible if we are collectively and individually supportive of such opportunities as they arise.

We hope the re-design of the site will be completed in late May. In the meantime, please visit www.snapshotpress.co.uk if you would like to order a copy of The Unworn Necklace.

And please consider also visiting www.wingbeats.co.uk for details of another forthcoming Snapshot Press book that is already attracting considerable attention both within and outside haiku circles."


John Barlow
Editor, Snapshot Press
e: info@snapshotpress.co.uk
w: www.snapshotpress.co.uk