JACKSON, Tenn. — March 19, 2014 — 51社区 alumnus David Clark recently won the Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize for his poems.
Clark, a Lilly Postdoctoral Fellow at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind., received the prize for a collection of poems titled 鈥淚nterview Conducted through the Man-Eater鈥檚 Throat.鈥� The poems are scheduled to be published in the spring of 2015.
The 2005 Union graduate majored in English, excelling in both poetry and fiction as an undergraduate, said Bobby Rogers, professor of English and writer in residence. In addition to serving on the staff of 鈥淭he Torch,鈥� a student literary magazine at Union, Clark received the Helen Blythe Creative Writing Award, given each year to a graduating senior deemed to be the best creative writer.
鈥淒avid was a voracious reader and thinker, and his writing reflected that he was keen in his observations but also careful in his thinking,鈥� said Gene Fant, professor English and chairman of the English department when Clark was a student at Union. 鈥淎wards like (David鈥檚 poetry prize) are a kind of external affirmation of the outstanding preparation students receive, positioning them for their calling as writers.鈥�
Clark鈥檚 poems have been featured in a variety of publications, including 鈥淎laska Quarterly Review,鈥� 鈥淎ntioch Review鈥� and 鈥淵ale Review.鈥� For more information about Clark鈥檚 writings, visit .