Thank you to the National Poetry Series and the Miami Bookfair for airing the recent discussion I had with National Poetry Series judge Kwame Dawes about the writing of Dear Specimen! You can watch it on demand here.
The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts sponsored this August 21, 2021 reading as as part of their Phosphorescence Poetry Series. Mary Robles and Dennis James Sweeney were co-readers. My contribution begins at the 4′ 40″ mark.
Many thanks to The University of Arizona Poetry Center and library specialist Julie Swarstad Johnson for hosting “Inspiration in the Stacks: Four Questions for W.J. Herbert” on their January 28, 2021 blog page.
My debut full-length poetry manuscript, “Dear Specimen,” has been named one of five winners of the 2020 National Poetry Series. Out of a field of more than 1,400 entrants, the manuscript advanced to finalist status with 49 others, and was chosen by Kwame Dawes to receive the award. The manuscript will be published in Fall, 2021 by Beacon Press.
My chapbook manuscript titled “Riddles of Flock & Bone” was selected by judge Patricia Smith as finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s 2019 Chapbook Fellowship. Out of a field of approximately 400 entrants, “Riddles of Flock & Bone” was one of her two finalist picks. I am honored to have been recognized by a poet whom I greatly admire.