Poet Kimiko Hahn calls Dr. Samyak
Shertok’s debut collection “an absolute marvel”
CONWAY, Ark. (October 24, 2024)
— The Association
of Writers & Writing Programs last month announced the winners of their
annual competition for book-length works, and Hendrix College Assistant
Professor of English-Creative Writing Dr. Samyak Shertok’s debut poetry collection,
No Rhododendron, was selected for the
2024 AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry by poet and distinguished
professor Kimiko Hahn of Queens College, CUNY.
In her judge’s comments, Hahn noted that
Shertok “offers forms of his own making that twine together words and sense.
There are quotes from sutras, from Blake, from family. There is abiding grief
and, in that, surviving to tell and retell stories. This debut collection is an
absolute marvel.”
Shertok said he felt “a
heady mixture of surprise, relief, gratitude, and joy” upon learning he had
received the prize.
“An award series with such pedigree, an
incredible independent publisher, and a dream judge—it really was a wild dream
come true,” he said of receiving the call while attending the Sewanee Writers’
Conference. “After I hung up the phone, I kept walking on the little hidden
path behind Stirling’s Coffee House. Through the branches, I saw a family of
deer with two fawns. The sky was clean with the wings and callings of cardinals
and hummingbirds. It felt as though the universe was celebrating with me,
briefly. It was magical. I closed my eyes and whispered a word of gratitude to my
mother, the universe, and everyone who had made this possible.”
Shertok’s poems appear in The Cincinnati Review, The Gettysburg
Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, POETRY, Shenandoah, Best New Poets,
and elsewhere. A finalist for the National Poetry Series, the Agnes Lynch
Starrett Poetry Prize, and the Jake Adam York Prize, he has received
fellowships from Aspen Words, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and the Fine
Arts Work Center in Provincetown. His work has been awarded the Robert and
Adele Schiff Award for Poetry, the Gulf Coast Prize in Poetry, and the Auburn
Witness Poetry Prize. Originally from Nepal, he was the inaugural Hughes Fellow
in Poetry at Southern Methodist University before coming to Hendrix.
“The Donald Hall Prize for
Poetry is an honor, and having the latest recipient on the Hendrix English
Department faculty provides an incredible opportunity for our students,” said
Dr. Tyrone Jaeger, who currently chairs the department. “We are overjoyed for
Dr. Shertok and grateful to have him teaching at Hendrix. Our students are
lucky to have Dr. Shertok here, as is the entire Hendrix community.”
No Rhododendron is forthcoming from the University
of Pittsburgh Press (Pitt Poetry Series) in 2025.
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix
College is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think About Colleges and celebrated among the country’s leading
liberal arts colleges for academic quality, engaged learning opportunities and
career preparation, vibrant campus life, and value. The Hendrix College
Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III sports. Hendrix has been affiliated
with the United Methodist Church since 1884. Learn more at www.hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement that links the classroom
with the world, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, justice, and
sustainable living, the Hendrix community inspires students to lead lives of
accomplishment, integrity, service, and joy.” —Hendrix
College Statement of Purpose