DANIELSON, CT — Quinebaug Valley Community College will hold its 16th Annual Julius Sokenu Poetry Prize Celebration on April 27 at 6 p.m. in Robert E. Miller Auditorium.
The event is free and open to the public, with readings by award-winning student poets and guest speaker and poet Edgar Kunz. Sandwiches, hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and beverages will be provided.
Originally from Connecticut and a former community college student, Kunz is an assistant professor at Goucher College and author of the poetry collections “Tap Out” (Mariner, 2019), named a New & Noteworthy book by the New York Times, and “Fixer” (Ecco, 2023). His poems have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, and Oxford American. In addition, he has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, Bread Loaf, Vanderbilt University, and Stanford University, where he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. He resides in Baltimore.
The annual Julius Sokenu Poetry Awards honors the best student poetry in English and Spanish at Quinebaug Valley Community College and Quinebaug Middle College. The event is sponsored by QVCC Foundation, Cultural Programming Committee, departments of English and Spanish, EASTCONN’s Quinebaug Middle College, and QVCC Student Government Association, as well as Julius Sokenu Poetry Prize donors.
For more information contact Professor Jon Andersen at jandersen@qvcc.edu or Interim Academic Division Director Elkin Espitia-Loaiza, at eespitia-loaiza@qvcc.edu.
QVCC is among 12 community colleges in Connecticut that will merge in July 2023 to become CT State Community College, one of the largest community colleges in the country and largest in New England, dedicated to quality, access and affordability. CT State students will be able to apply once and take classes at any campus. In addition to Quinebaug, other locations include Asnuntuck (Enfield), Capital (Hartford), Gateway (New Haven & North Haven), Housatonic (Bridgeport), Manchester, Middlesex (Middletown & Meriden), Naugatuck Valley (Waterbury & Danbury), Northwestern (Winsted), Norwalk, Quinebaug Valley (Danielson & Willimantic), and Three Rivers (Norwich) Community Colleges. For more information, see www.ctstate.edu/becoming.