Telluride Arts: Mark Fischer Poetry Prize 5/17/2014

12 May Telluride Arts: Mark Fischer Poetry Prize 5/17/2014

Mark Fischer Poetry Prize Awards Celebration, presented in conjunction with Telluride Literary Arts Festival. At Arroyo, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Kyle Harvey judged the 2014 Mark Fischer Poetry Prize contest. Celebration at Arroyo, Saturday, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

The 16th annual Mark Fischer Poetry Prize awards and reading will take place on Saturday, May 17, 6-7:30 pm at Arroyo Wine Bar in Telluride, Colorado. Join Elaine Fischer to honor her late husband, Mark Fischer, and enjoy readings by Art Goodtimes and the 2014 prizewinners. The prize invites poets residing in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico to enter. A whopping 110 poems were submitted for consideration this year. The judging is blind, so the judge considers each poem independent of its author.

In 2014, the poetry prize is presented in conjunction with the Telluride Literary Arts Festival, a new collaboration between local partners to present literary events over the course of the weekend. Visit tellurideliteraryarts.weebly.com for a full schedule of events. (And see Related Posts on Telluride Inside… and Out for additional details.)

The Mark Fischer Poetry Prize is named in the memory of Telluride’s much-loved poet, lawyer, skier, and raconteur. Mark Fischer was a daring experimenter who combined a polyglot’s command of languages with a quirky sense of humor and a passion for obtuse words. In that spirit, prizes have been awarded to the entries that best exhibits the qualities of originality, novelty, complex meaning, linguistic skill, and wit.

The wilder the better.

This year’s winners were selected by Fruita, Colorado poet Kyle Harvey.

Kyle is a poet, artist, and musician. An acclaimed songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, Harvey spent some time in the back seat of a van, touring the country with a band called “It’s True.” Currently the editor of Fruita Pulp, Harvey’s first collection of poems, “Hyacinth,” was published by Lithic Press in 2013. His poems have recently appeared in SHAMPOO, Grand Valley Magazine, Fat City Review, Colorado Journeys, Ossuary Whispers and SP CE. Harvey currently resides in Fruita, Colorado where he owns an art gallery and lives with his beautiful wife, two kids, three cats, a dog, and nine chickens (whom he lovingly named after some of his favorite poets  – and Bill Murray).

For more information visit TellurideArts.org.