S5 Ep. 11: 'The Award is the Book: Randall Mann on Poetry Awards, Contests, and Diversity'

fiction/non/fiction

Poet Randall Mann, a winner of the Kenyon Review Prize in Poetry, joins Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to continue last week’s conversation about the significance of literary awards. Mann talks about how poets use prizes to seek publication, the increasingly diverse winners, and why he loves frank: sonnets, by Diane Seuss. He also reads the poem “Beginning & Ending with a Line by Michelle Boisseau,” from his most recent collection, A Better Life.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video excerpts from our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Randall Mann

● "Beginning & Ending with a Line by Michelle Boisseau"

● A Better Life

● Complaint in the Garden

● Breakfast with Thom Gunn

● Straight Razor

● The Illusion of Intimacy: On Poetry

Others:

● “How on Earth Do You Judge Books?” Susan Choi and Oscar Villalon on the Story Behind Literary Awards ‹ Literary Hub (Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5, Episode 10)

● Announcing the 2022 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists

● Announcing the Finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards

● Yellow Rain: Poems by Mai Der Vang

● Sho by Douglas Kearney

● Heard-Hoard by Atsuro Riley

● frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss

● Mutiny by Phillip B Williams

● Ceive by B.K. Fisher

● The Renunciations by Donika Kelly

● Cutlish by Rajiv Mohabir

● The Rinehart Frames by Cheswayo Mphanza

● "Among the Gorgons" by Michelle Boisseau

● Poet wins first Maya Angelou Book Award from MU, other Missouri schools

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