2019 V. Press Prize for Poetry

V. Press is very very pleased to announce that the winner of the 2019 V. Press Prize for Poetry is 'yngordna' by Kelly Williams, with ‘Writing the Truth’ by Miguel Guerreiro Lourenco as runner-up.

Announcing the 2019 V. Press Prize for Poetry winner, Sarah Leavesley said: “This year’s shortlist from the University of Worcester featured five manuscripts with a delightfully varied selection of themed and focussed writing, across a variety of styles/forms including some stunning vispo.

“Kelly Williams’ ‘yngordna’ (androgny spelled backwards) is a bold and brave exploration of gender, sexuality and love within and against societal expectations. Bristling with vivid imagery, vibrant language and powerful emotions, these poems are not afraid to challenge conventional boundaries in poetry as life. The selection’s focussed theme is reinforced by a natural fluid flow in the poems’ ordering, just as the intensity of the lines is balanced by the poems’ use of line breaks and white space. A fresh and striking selection.

“I was also very struck by Miguel Guerreiro Lourenco’s ‘Writing the Truth’ – a selection of powerful poems that manages the feat of feeling imaginative yet also very real and moving, reinforced again by the choices of form and layout.”

Sarah is now working with Kelly Williams on their pamphlet to be published in 2020 and launched with a university event in The Studio at The Hive, Worcester on the evening of Friday, 1 May, 2020. Runner-up Miguel Guerreiro Lourenco will receive a selection of V. Press titles.