FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Press has published two new poetry books: In Broken Latin ($16 paper), by Annette Spaulding-Convy, and The Empty Loom ($16 paper) by Robert Gibb. Each of these books is a finalist in the 2012 Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize.

In Broken Latin explores the life of a modern Roman Catholic nun. The book is set in the patriarchal institution of the convent, and the poems comment on the struggle for spiritual identity in contemporary culture through the voice of an ex-nun creating a life for herself in the world while searching for meaning not dependent on traditional religious dogma.

Annette Spaulding-Convy is the cofounder and coeditor of Two Sylvias Press and coeditor of the literary journal Crab Creek Review. She is the author of In the Convent We Become Clouds, and her poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, North American Review, and Crab Orchard Review, among others. She lives in a small community on Puget Sound.

Robert Gibb’s The Empty Loom weaves together the strands of a female character through which the author explores a love and its loss. Gibb was called “one of the best poets now writing in America” by the Notre Dame Review. He is the author of eight books of poetry, and his awards include the National Poetry Series, two Poetry Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Strousse Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Pittsburgh.

The 2012 winner of the Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize, which provides an award of $5,000, was Catherine MacDonald for her book Rousing the Machinery ($16 paper), which was published in the spring. The third finalist for 2012 was Adam Vines, for his book The Coal Life ($16 paper), also published in the spring.

 

The University of Arkansas Press has been publishing poetry ever since Miller Williams became the press’s first director 30 years ago. In 2007, a benefit concert by his daughter, Lucinda Williams, made the endowment of a $5,000 annual award possible. Submissions for the poetry prize are accepted annually in September and October. Three books, two finalists and a winner, were chosen for 2013 and will be published by the press this spring.

The University of Arkansas Press is the book publishing division of the University of Arkansas. It publishes approximately 20 titles per year. The press is charged by the trustees of the university with the publication of books in service to the academic community and for the enrichment of the broader culture.