The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize

2021XJKennedy Prize

The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize

$10,000

Established in 1998, The X. J. Kennedy Prize highlights one full-length collection of poetry per year. Since 2019 the Prize comes with a $10,000 advance, a standard royalty contract, and 20 copies of the published book.

Submissions open each year on July 1 and close on September 30.

Submission Guidelines and List of Previous Winners

The winner of the 2020 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize is Before I Had the Word, by Brooke Sahni.

Submission Guidelines

To submit please visit our online submission manager:

https://texasreview.submittable.com/submit/1489/the-x-j-kennedy-poetry-prize

2021 Judge: Kazim Ali

General Guidelines

Submissions are open July 1 – September 30.
A fee of $28 must be paid at the time of submission.
Open to any poet writing in English. Translations are not eligible.
The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize is not a first book prize though we welcome first books. The Prize is open to poets at any stage of their career.
There are no formal restrictions for this prize; we welcome manuscripts of any style/form.
Poems may have been published individually in magazines or anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Please notify TRP immediately by withdrawing the manuscript via Submittable if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Current and former students and faculty of Sam Houston State University are not eligible. Family members or former students of the final judge are not eligible.
Submissions are accepted through Submittable only.
Winner will receive $10,000, a standard royalty contract, and 20 copies of the published book.

Manuscript Guidelines

Manuscripts must be between 50 and 100 pages in length.
Please include a table of contents, title page, and page numbers.
Do not include an acknowledgments page.
No more than one poem per page.
Submissions are judged blind. Please remove any identifying information from the manuscript.
Submit as a .pdf, .docx, or .doc file format.
No revisions will be accepted once the manuscript is uploaded.

Kazim Ali

2021 Judge: Kazim Ali

KazimAli-012

Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, includingthe volumes of poetry Inquisition, Sky Ward, winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books’ New England/New York Award; The Fortieth Day; All One’s Blue; and the cross-genre texts Bright Felon and Wind Instrument. His novels include the recently published The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. He is also an accomplished translator (of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others) and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. After a career in public policy and organizing, Ali taught at various colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, Davidson College, St. Mary's College of California, and Naropa University. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light.

Visit Kazim Ali's Website

X. J. Kennedy

X. J. Kennedy, for whom this competition is named, is a distinguished poet, translator, anthologist, editor, and is the author of numerous books of poetry, children’s literature, and textbooks on English literature. Kennedy won the Poetry Society of America’s Frost Medal for lifetime service to poetry in 2009.