Tuesday, April 16, 2024 Announcing the 2024 JBLC Poetry Fellow
We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2024 Poetry Fellowship: Diana Cao of Boston, MA. Their chapbook, Relational, is out now from Sixth Finch Books. Cao will visit Buffalo this August for a writing residency and read at the August 31 Silo City Reading Series event.
“A masterful deadpan poetics is at work in these poems where the poet reports the happenings of days, present and past: food packed in the freezer, a doctor’s visit, 16th century Shanghai, photos of Communist garb. Moving between eras and images, the poet weaves together a singular, philosophical consciousness and interrogates the juxtapositions brought into view. “How many people have walked through these walls?” “Who are you responsible for keeping alive?” Brilliant, pointed, and unwavering in their gaze.” – Megan Fernandes, 2024 Judge
In addition to naming Cao as winner, five poets were recognized as finalists from the pool of over 150 applicants. The 2024 finalists are Cameron Martin, Emily Lee Luan, Devon Walker-Figueroa, Jake Friedman, and Kieron Walquist. Join us in celebrating these incredible poets!
2024 Poetry Fellowship Winner
Diana Cao
Diana Cao is a writer whose poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, The Georgia Review, and elsewhere. She has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and International Literary Seminars, and she is a winner of Nimrod International‘s 2023 Neruda Prize. Her first chapbook, Relational, is the winner of Sixth Finch‘s annual chapbook contest.
Website: dianacao.com
2024 Poetry Fellowship Finalists
Cameron McLeod Martin is a queer & trans essayist & poet. Their work has appeared in Fence, The Journal, Grist, Afternoon Visitor, and elsewhere. They hold an MFA from the University of Idaho and currently live in Moscow, Idaho. They hope you have a really excellent day.
Website: cameronmcleodmartin.com
Emily Lee Luan is the author of 回 / Return, a winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize, and I Watch the Boughs, selected for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. A 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Poetry and the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry 2021, American Poetry Review, Lithub, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Rutgers University–Newark and is a 2023–24 Visiting Assistant Professor in the Syracuse University MFA program. Website: emilyluan.com
Devon Walker-Figueroa is the author of Philomath (Milkweed Editions, 2021). A winner of the National Poetry Series and the Levis Reading Prize, Philomath was the first poetry collection to be named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. Her next collection, Lazarus Species, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in 2025. Website: devonwalkerfigueroa.com
Jake Friedman (he/him) is a poet, editor, and culture worker based in Fort Collins, CO. For the past few years, he has been pursuing an MFA in Poetry at Colorado State University. Prior to that, he spent ten years living, working, and doing various literary things in Phoenix, AZ–founding and directing a small press called Four Chambers, working at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, respectively. Writing-wise, he has accumulated a few objectively minor but personally significant honors–a Galway Kinnell Memorial Scholarship from the Community of Writers, a College and University Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and a semi-finalist for the 92Y Discovery Prize. Website: twitter.com/friedmanandeggs
Kieron Walquist [he/they] is a queer neurospicy poet + visual artist from mid-Missouri. He holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis + is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Utah. Their chapbook, LOVE LOCKS, is out from Quarterly West. Website: kieronwalquist.com
The Just Buffalo Literary Center Poetry Fellowship seeks to advance the career of an individual poet as well as raising Buffalo’s visibility nationwide as a literary city. More information about the fellowship can be found here.