 Aimee Nezhukumatathil |
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (associate professor, English) was recently awarded two top national honors for her third collection of poetry, LUCKY FISH (Tupelo Press, 2011).
The first award was The Eric Hoffer Grand Prize for independent books. The award honors the memory of the American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. LUCKY FISH was named the top independent book in all categories, ranging from memoir to general fiction to art.
From the award citation: "Aimee Nezhukumatathil writes with ever-present inventiveness in this 2011 collection. By enfolding folk beliefs, tales, or superstitions into contemporary experience, place, or situations, these poems delineate a fascinating, unexpected adventure. Her poetic grace ranges through varied forms and across subjects and worldwide geography with exuberance, humor, and a lustrous talent for complex transformation... this virtuosic poet possesses the enviable capacity for interlacing compassionate universality with a bright-hearted understanding of happenstance."
LUCKY FISH received a rare second honor in the same round of awards as it was also named a DaVinci Eye Award winner for superior cover design.
In addition, LUCKY FISH tied for the gold medal in the poetry category at the 2011 IPPY Awards from the Independent Publisher Book Association. Entrants for this year's awards ranged from 45 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, 7 Canadian provinces, and 7 countries overseas. The medalists were chosen from 3,907 total entries.
Awards director Jim Barnes says, "“Independent publishers are the canaries in our cultural coal mine,” says awards director Jim Barnes. “To these publishers, telling the truth and fighting for a cause comes before making a profit. These are the books that win our awards and these are the books that can help solve the world’s problems."
Nezhukumatathil was also recently named Contributing Editor for The Writer's Chronicle, the magazine of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs with a circulation of over 26,000 writers, students, editors, literary arts professionals, and faculty members of U.S., U.K., Australian, and Canadian writing programs.
