By Linzi Garcia

Meadowlark Press invites you to celebrate the winners and finalists of the Meadowlark Press Birdy Poetry Prize during this free, live virtual event! Please register at tinyurl.com/birdypoetryprize. (Event is 6 pm CENTRAL TIME on March 13)

The Birdy Poetry Prize is an annual full-length poetry manuscript competition that draws a large variety of

poetic voices and subjects. This event showcases six of those voices, with readings from 2019 and 2020 winners and finalists: Carol Kapaun Ratchenski, JC Mehta, Ruth Maus, and Brian Daldorph. Author bios below. 

Additionally, a special guest judge will announce the winner and finalist of the 2021 Birdy Poetry Prize, followed by a short reading from the poets.

The event will be recorded and shared on the Meadowlark website (www.meadowlark-books.com), YouTube page (Meadowlark Press), and Facebook page (Meadowlark Press, LLC).

2019 & 2020 Birdy books are available for purchase at the Meadowlark bookstore (meadowlark-books.square.site).

The books are also available for purchase through your favorite bookstores and on Amazon. 

To stay up-to-date on the publications of the 2021 winner and finalist, please subscribe to our newsletter at meadowlark-books.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the event, and we appreciate your support!

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Author Bios

Carol Kapaun Ratchenski is a lifelong resident of North Dakota “where you can see the sky without ever looking up and the open spaces demand art. And sometimes, love.” She is a licensed professional counselor and the owner and operator of Center for Compassion and Creativity in Fargo, ND. Her book, A Certain Kind of Forgiveness, is the winner of the inaugural Birdy Poetry Prize. 

JC Mehta is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, and author of several books. As a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, space, place, and ancestry inform much of their work. Mehta has served as the editor in chief of Crab Creek Review. They have been awarded a number of art and research fellowships, as well as a number of literary awards, including the 2020 Birdy Poetry Prize for her book Selected Poems: 2000-2020. Poetry-in-residency posts have taken Mehta to Crazy Horse Memorial, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Halcyon Arts Lab. 

Ruth Maus, a native of Topeka, KS, has pursued a love of learning around the world, with languages, curiosity, and an appreciation for all beings a constant thread. She is the author of the 2019 Birdy finalist book, Valentine. 

Brian Daldorph, author of the 2020 Birdy finalist book, Kansas Poems, teaches at the University of Kansas and the Douglas County Jail. He serves as editor for Coal City Review. Kansas Poems is his eighth, and newest, poetry collection.

2021 Birdy Winner is… (who could it be?!)

2021 Birdy Finalist is… (oh, the anticipation!)