For the latest Subnivean Awards, the most recent recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement, Major Jackson, will be the final judge in poetry, while Gish Jen, recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction and a Guggenheim fellowship, will be the final judge in fiction.
Subnivean, SUNY Oswego’s student-staffed digital publication, has announced two prestigious final judges for the 2024 Subnivean Awards. The most recent recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement, Major Jackson, will be the final judge in poetry, while Gish Jen, recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction and a Guggenheim fellowship, will be the final judge in fiction.
Jackson has earned numerous accolades, including the Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts and Pushcart Prize awards. His nod from the Academy of American Poets was just the tip of the iceberg. In turn, Jackson has contributed substantially to the global literary community for years. Beyond judging international competitions like the Subnivean Awards, for example, Jackson has edited many books, including an installment in "The Best American Poetry" series.
Oprah Magazine called Gish Jen’s latest short story collection, "Thank You, Mr. Nixon," “a triumph of humor and sorrow.” "Thank You, Mr. Nixon" was also a New Yorker “best book.” And Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz has famously named Jen “the Great American Novelist we’re always hearing about.” And, like Jackson, Jen is also committed to giving back to the literary community: beyond her work with Subnivean, Jen serves as a member of the MacArthur Foundation’s board of directors.
"It's human to hear stories and to know how people live and to imagine how that is for them," Jen said.
For a chance to have their stories read by Jen, or their poems read by Jackson, writers can enter the 2024 Subnivean Awards until the Feb. 21 deadline.
“The winner in each category of the Subnivean Awards competition, which will remain open until Feb. 21, 2024, will receive a modest monetary prize of $150,” said Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, the professor who edits Subnivean alongside undergraduate staff members. “More importantly, the poetry winner will receive a blurb from Major Jackson and the fiction winner will receive one from Gish Jen. In the literary world, that’s more valuable than the cash prize.”
This year marks the international literary competition’s fourth successful year. If you, or a talented writer you know, would like to learn more about Subnivean, visit Subnivean.org.