The X. J. Kennedy Poetry 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
Winner of the 2021 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize:
Where Are the Snows, by Kathleen Rooney
Selected by Kazim Ali
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- Poems may have been published individually in magazines or anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.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
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.
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.
Previous Winners:
2021: Kathleen Rooney – Where Are the Snows
2020: Brooke Sahni – Before I Had the Word
2019: Caroline M. Mar – Special Education
2018: Garret Keizer – The World Pushes Back
2017: Jay Udall – Because a Fire in Our Heads
2016: Jeff Hardin – No Other Kind of World
2015: Gwen Hart – The Empress of Kisses
2014: Corinna McClanahan Schroeder – Inked
2013: Ashley Mace Havird – The Garden of the Fugitives
2012: Jeff Worley – A Little Luck
2011: James McKean – We Are the Bus
2010: George Drew – The View from Jackass Hill
2009: Joshua Coben – Maker of Shadows
2008: Ashley Renee – Basic Heart
2007: William Baer – “Bocage” and Other Sonnets
2006: Becky Gould Gibson – Aphrodite’s Daughter
2005: Deborah Bogen – Landscape with Silos
2004: Lee Rudolph – A Woman and a Man, Ice-Fishing
2003: Eric Nelson – Terrestrials
2002: Jan Lee Ande – Reliquary
2001: Jorn Ake – Asleep in the Lightning Fields
2000: Barbara Lau – The Long Surprise
1999: Philip Heldrich – Good Friday
1998: Gray Jacobik – The Surface of Last Scattering