Wednesday, June 23, 2021 Announcing the 2021 JBLC Poetry Fellow

We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2021 Poetry Fellowship: Porsha Olayiwola of Boston, MA. An Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the current poet laureate for the City of Boston, Olayiwola is author of the collection i shimmer sometimes, too (Button Poetry, 2019). Olayiwola will visit Buffalo this August for a writing residency and perform at the Aug. 28 Silo City Reading Series event.

“In Olayiwola’s poems, forms are reformed and reconfigured and in the process,” said final judge Lillian-Yvonne Bertram. “The narratives blend, double, and redouble back on themselves in exciting and inventive ways. These poems are what I read poems for: complex ideas coupled with formal innovation.”

In addition to naming Olayiwola as winner, three poets were recognized as finalists from the pool of over 100 applicants. The 2021 finalists (in alphabetical order) are Daniel Garcia, Benjamin Gucciardi, and Angela Peñaredondo. Learn more about the 2021 Poetry Fellowship winner & finalists.

The Just Buffalo Literary Center Poetry Fellowship seeks to advance the career of an individual poet as well as raising Buffalo’s visibility as a literary city on a national level. More information can be found at justbuffalo.org/poetry-fellowship.