2019 Gatewood Prize Announcement

Switchback Books is thrilled to announce the results of the 2019 Gatewood Prize. The winner is Adelante by Jessica Guzman, selected by judge Patricia Smith. Thank you to everyone who submitted manuscripts to this year’s contest. We are honored to read your work. Congratulations also to our finalists and semi-finalists, selected by the editors: Finalists:

Marina Blitshteyn, "A Conversion” Kelly Caldwell, “Letters to Forget” Naomi Extra, “Ratchet Supreme” Jordan Franklin, “When the Signals Come Home" Gloria Muñoz, “Dawn’s Early” Ines Pujos, “Lilly the Valley” Nichole Riggs, “Lumes” Mary Wilson, “Let’s Have Both” Emma Winsor Wood, “Preferred Internal Landscape” Semi-Finalists:

Julie Choffel, “At/Home” C.R. Grimmer, “The Lyme Letters” Alexis Jackson, “My Sister’s Country” Safia Jama, “My Brother’s Menagerie" Judge Patricia Smith's remarks on Adelante: Adelante is unerringly fresh and restless, a treasure of deftly-honed narratives that manage to be both unleashed and enviably controlled. The poet galvanizes the often staid stories that surround and numb us--in these pages, an alternately tender and ferocious lyricism is just barely contained. That lyricism bolsters the meticulous crafting that can't help but culminate in a sparkling and utterly original collection. About the Author:

Jessica Guzman's work appears in Shenandoah, jubilat, The Greensboro Review, Pleiades, Ecotone, and elsewhere. Her honors include American Literary Review’s 2017 Poetry Award and Harpur Palate's 2017 Milton Kessler Memorial Prize for Poetry, as well as scholarships from the Tin House Winter Workshop, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley Poetry Workshop, and the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Writers and will be Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Franklin & Marshall College beginning Fall 2019.