Poet Katie Ford wins VCU Levis Reading Prize

By Tom Gresham

Katie Ford’s “Colosseum” has won the 12th Annual Levis Reading Prize from Virginia Commonwealth University for the best first or second book of poetry published in 2008.

Ford will visit VCU and give a public reading at 8 p.m. on Sept. 24 in the VCU Commons, Richmond Salons I-II. The Levis Reading Prize, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, is presented in honor of the late Larry Levis, the distinguished poet and teacher who was a VCU professor until his death in 1996. The award was created to encourage poets early in their careers by recognizing the best first or second book of poetry published each year. 

“Colosseum,” which was published by Graywolf Press, stems from Ford’s experiences living through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans. Ford examines both ancient and contemporary catastrophes in the book with particular attention to Katrina’s power and impact. “Colosseum” was named a Best Book of 2008 by Publishers Weekly and among the top 10 books of poetry of the year in the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Ford is also the author of “Deposition,” a book of poetry, and “Storm,” a chapbook. Her poems have appeared in the Paris Review, the American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Pleiades and Seneca Review, and are forthcoming from the New Yorker, Smartish Pace and Bayou. Ford teaches at Franklin & Marshall College and lives in Philadelphia with her husband, the novelist Josh Emmons. 

The Levis Reading Prize is presented on behalf of VCU’s MFA in Creative Writing Program. Sponsors include the VCU Department of English, the James Branch Cabell Library Associates, Friends of the Library, the VCU Libraries, the VCU Honors College, Barnes & Noble @ VCU Bookstore, the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences and the Levis family.

Previous winners of the Levis Reading Prize include Matthew Donovan for “Vellum,” Joshua Weiner (“From the Book of Giants”), Ron Slate (“The Incentive of the Maggot”), Spencer Reece (“The Clerk’s Tale”), David Daniel (“Seven-Star Bird”), Susan Aizenberg (“Muse”), Steve Scafidi (“Sparks from a Nine-Pound Hammer”), Nick Flynn (“Some Ether”), Joel Brouwer (“Exactly What Happened”), Sandra Alcosser (“Except by Nature”) and Belle Waring (“Dark Blonde”).

The annual entry deadline for the prize is Jan. 15. Judges come from the faculty of the VCU Department of English. For more information, visit http://www.has.vcu.edu/eng/resources/levis_prize/levis_prize.htm.