The Cave Canem Page 1
Fellowship
About
Cave Canem supports the work of Black poets through a suite of core programs, namely an annual retreat consisting of intensive poetry workshops and readings, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.
The retreat offers an unparalleled opportunity for Cave Canem Fellows to study with esteemed faculty, and to join an expansive community of peers. Fellows write from a range of poetic traditions: blues; confessional; experimental; dramatic; lyric; narrative; performance; political; etc.
Due to our generous community of institutional funders and individual donors, there is no submission fee for the Fellowship application and the retreat is free to all Fellows.
Application
Applications for the 2027 Fellowship are now open and will close on Tuesday, October 6, at 11:59 PM ET. No late submissions will be accepted. To learn more and apply, visit https://bit.ly/cc-27-fellowship.
PrizesPage 2
The Cave Canem Prize supports the work of Black poets to overcome the obstacle of publishing their first book of poems. Awarded to one poet annually, the Prize recipient receives a monetary award, as well as having their manuscript published by one of our partner publishers, Graywolf Press; University of Pittsburgh Press; or University of Georgia Press. Jericho Brown (CC Fellow, 2000) will judge the 2027 Cave Canem Prize.
Applications for the 2027 Cave Canem Prize are closed.
The Cave Canem Prize
The Cave Canem Prize supports the work of Black poets to overcome the obstacle of publishing their first book of poems. Awarded to one poet annually, the Prize recipient receives a monetary award, as well as having their manuscript published by one of our partner publishers, Graywolf Press; University of Pittsburgh Press; or University of Georgia Press.
Submissions for the 2027 Cave Canem Prize are now closed. Applications for the 2028 Cave Canem Prize will open in April 2027.
Application
Award
Winner receives $10,000; publication through one of our partner presses; 15 copies of the book; and a featured reading with the selected judge, presented by Cave Canem.
Eligibility
All unpublished, original collections of poems written in English by Black poets who have not had a full-length book of poetry published by a professional press. Cave Canem defines Black poets as any poet who identifies as a member of the African Diaspora. Submissions must be paginated with a font size of 11 or 12, and 60 – 75 pages in length, inclusive of title page and table of contents.
Black authors of chapbooks and self-published books with a maximum print run of 500 copies are also eligible to apply.
Please note that in the event that an applicant has submitted the same manuscript to other competitions and receives an award, they must disclose this information to Cave Canem. By applying, the Cave Canem Prize Winner agrees to be present in the continental United States at her or his own expense shortly after the book is published in order to participate in promotional reading(s).
Exclusions
Current or former students, colleagues, employees, family members and close friends of the judge; current or former employees and members of the board of Cave Canem Foundation or Graywolf Press; and authors who have published a book or have a book under contract with Graywolf Press are ineligible.
If any of the selected authors fall under the above exclusions, they will be disqualified and a replacement chosen. As the poetry community is small and the contest is judged without knowledge of the submitter’s identity, acquaintance with the judge or participation in a workshop taught by the judge are not disqualifying criteria.
2026 Winner
Cave Canem is honored to announce that poet and writer Awuor Ouma is the winner of the 2026 Cave Canem Prize! Her collection, Blue Hands, Brown Skin, is a vulnerable exposition written in the wake of her father’s death that traverses motifs of identity, memory, and states of exile. Blue Hands, Brown Skin will be published by the University of Georgia Press in Fall 2026.
Awuor Ouma is a Kenyan poet and writer living in Berlin. She writes from the spaces between faith and fatigue, love and leaving, memory and migration. After years of writing in obscurity, she turns ordinary conversations about ordinary people into something worth remembering. Her work appears in Doek! and The Kalahari Review, where she explores belonging, loss, and the fragile beauty of ordinary lives.
Derricotte/Eady Chapbook Prize
The Derricotte/Eady Prize, named after Cave Canem co-founders Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady, spotlights chapbook-length manuscripts by Black poets.
Awarded to one poet annually, the Derricotte/Eady Prize recipient receives a monetary prize, the publication of their manuscript through Black Lawrence Press, a residency at The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach, and a featured reading at the O, Miami Festival in April.
About the 2027 Judge
Tommye Blount was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He is the author of the chapbook What Are We Not For (Bull City Press) and the full-length collection of poetry Fantasia for the Man in Blue (Four Way Books)—which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and others. A graduate from Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program for Writers, he is the recipient of commendations, fellowships, and grants from: the Amy Clampitt Residency, the Hawthornden Foundation, the Desert Rat Residency, the Whiting Foundation, the Aninstantia Foundation, Cave Canem, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and Kresge Arts.
About the 2028 Judge
Jonterri Gadson is a Cave Canem fellow who has published three poetry books, including the full-length poetry collection Blues Triumphant (YesYes Books). She is a TV/Film writer/director and a former creative writing professor. She has previously written on Comedy Central’s EVERYBODY STILL HATES CHRIS, Netflix’s THE UPSHAWS, HBO’S A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW, and more. She won Kevin Hart’s LOL Film Fellowship for a short she wrote/directed and premiered at the American Black Film Festival.
Submissions for the 2027 and 2028 Derricotte/Eady Prize are closed.
Application
Award
Winner receives $1,000; publication of their manuscript through Black Lawrence Press; 10 copies of the chapbook; a residency at The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach; and a featured reading at the O, Miami Festival in April.
Eligibility
All unpublished, original collections of poems written in English by Black poets. Please note that this is not a first book award. Cave Canem defines Black poets as any poet who identifies as a member of the African Diaspora.
Please note that in the event that an applicant has submitted the same manuscript to other book awards and received an award, they must disclose this information to Cave Canem. Submissions must be paginated, with a font size of 11 or 12, and 25-30 pages in length.
Exclusions
Current or former students, colleagues, employees, family members, and close friends of the judge; current or former employees and members of the board of Cave Canem Foundation; O, Miami; and authors who have published a book or have a book under contract with Jai-Alai Books are ineligible.
2026 Winner
The recipient of the 2026 Derricotte/Eady Prize is Chaun Ballard for his chapbook, Letters to My Future Self.
The manuscript was selected by giovanni singleton.
Chaun Ballard’s chapbook, Flight, was the recipient of the 2018 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize and was published by Tupelo Press, and his full-length collection, Second Nature, received the 23rd annual A. Poulin, Jr. Prize and was published by BOA Editions, Ltd. in 2025. His writing has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Obsidian, Oxford Poetry, Poetry Northwest, The Atlantic, The Journal of the Academy of American Poets, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, The New York Times Magazine, and other literary magazines. He holds an MFA and a PhD.
Angela Jackson Prize
Since 2009, Cave Canem has collaborated with Northwestern University Press to offer a prize for an exceptional second collection by a Black poet from the African diaspora. Past recipients include Vievee Francis, Reginald Harris, and Jonathan Moody. The prize is offered every other year to celebrate and publish works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence.
In light of Angela Jackson’s innumerable contributions to poetry, Black literary communities, and in recognition of her tenure as Poet Laureate of the State of Illinois, the prize has been renamed this year in her honor. Ms. Jackson will also serve as this year’s judge.
Submissions for the 2026 Angela Jackson Prize are now closed.
Application
Award
Recipient receives $1,000, publication by Northwestern University Press, 15 copies of the book, and a feature reading in New York City.
Eligibility
All unpublished, original collections of poems written in English by Black poets of African descent who have had no more than one full-length book of poetry published by a professional press (chapbooks and self-published works are excluded).
Please note that in the event that an applicant has submitted the same manuscript to other book awards and received an award, they must disclose this information to Cave Canem.
Manuscripts are read without the judge’s knowledge of contestants’ identities.
Exclusions
Current or former students, colleagues, employees, family members and close friends of the judge; current or former employees and members of the board of Cave Canem Foundation or Northwestern University Press; and authors who have published a book or have a book under contract with Northwestern University Press are ineligible.
If any of the selected authors fall under the above exclusions, they will be disqualified and a replacement will be chosen from among the finalists. As the poetry community is small and the contest is judged without knowledge of the submitter’s identity, acquaintance with the judge and participation in a workshop taught by the judge are not disqualifying criteria.
2026 Winner
Selected by namesake judge Angela Jackson, Michal ‘MJ’ Jones is the 2026 winner of the Angela Jackson Prize for their manuscript of blue & bone. Jones will receive $1,000, publication by Northwestern University Press in spring 2027, 15 copies of the book, and a feature reading at AWP 2027 in Chicago.
Michal ‘MJ’ Jones (they/he) is a poet, parent, and editor in Oakland, CA. Their debut collection, HOOD VACATIONS, won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award. They are also the author of a chapbook, SOFT ARMOR (2023), from Nomadic Press. A finalist of the National Poetry Series, MJ has received fellowships from VONA/Voices, Lambda Literary, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Often addressing & troubling aspects of life, violence, and identity, MJ’s work blends the lyrical, documentary, and confessional.
Regional
WorkshopsPage 3
Cave Canem’s Regional Workshops provide participants with the rare opportunity to work with accomplished poets at no cost. Limited to an enrollment of 15 participants, each workshop is held over ten sessions, and offers rigorous instruction, critique, and an introduction to the larger poetic field. Initiated in 1999, nearly 1,000 poets have participated in these community-based workshops.
Do Not Make Grief Your God
This poetry workshop aims to lead you through a poetic exploration influenced by both grief and love, while also responsive to political themes and the nuances of sound. The objective is to craft a piece shaped by form, breath, and the fundamental laws of nature. By integrating these elements, poets will seek to expand their understanding of poetry creation. Throughout the workshop, participants will gain insights into using poetic forms effectively while maintaining the authenticity and strength of their unique voice.
Shaping New Poems: Finding a Form to Fit This Place
This workshop will encourage intermediate-advanced stage poets to think about ways to write about the reality of living in Jamaica. Through a combination of lectures, prompts, close readings, and peer critique, poets will focus on how traditional forms can be used as a base for capturing their unique individual and collective experiences and elevating their poems from mere description or abstraction. How can the elegy be used to portray the paradox of grieving for the receding shoreline while enjoying the delicious fry fish at Hellshire Beach or mourning the loss of our favourite cookshop, or the death of the colleague who annoyed us with her music blaring over our too-tight cubicle, but who baked a potato pudding for us every end-of-month? How can the sonnet’s turn be used to capture our journey on the highway – one minute, admiring the majestic mountains and singing a reggae song, the next, cursing the taxis swerving through traffic? How can the ekphrastic form encourage us to revel in the ordinary details of our lives – the cacophony of Coronation Market, the boisterous rise of high rise buildings, the exercise enthusiasts at Emancipation Park weaving in and out of a wedding party’s photoshoot, the colourful conversations in a bank or utility company’s queue, the sights and sounds of a hurricane observed through a slit in the plyboard? How do we make praise songs for the street we grew up on, the things about this country that we hold dear?
The workshop will also make a space for innovative spirit and offer ways to bend these forms to fit the shape of this place we call home.
ReadingsPage 4
Cave Canem hosts a robust lineup of public readings and conversations with impactful Black poets and poetry scholars.
Cave Canem Prize Reading
Every autumn, we present a new voice in poetry by showcasing the debut collection of our annual Prize winner. The evening is the official launch of the poet’s book, as well as an opportunity to hear their voice alongside that of the judge who selected the manuscript for publication.
Legacy Conversations
Each year, we honor an eminent poet and/or scholar of poetry whose work represents a major contribution to Black poetry and its poetics, in a Legacy Conversation. The program invites a poet in the earlier stages of their career to read with and interview the honoree–though on occasion this format has changed to accommodate more than one honoree or a specific presentation of poetry. Recordings of past conversations are archived at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, housed in the James Weldon Johnson Collection. In the near future, they may be accessed via hyperlinks to an online library catalog.
Regional Workshop Readings
With multi-year workshops in New York City and Minneapolis and seasonal workshops that move around the country, we present poets in the beginning or intermediate stages of their poetic practice in regional readings. The readings are the culmination of nine weeks spent with an instructor (always a published poet), who facilitates the participants in honing their poetic voice and introduces them to various aspects of craft.
Off the Chain
In tandem with the annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs, we present a reading in the respective city, hosted by and featuring Cave Canem Fellows. This is one of the most exciting readings of the year and gives audiences an opportunity to experience the poetry at the core of Cave Canem’s mission.
Events
To keep updated on our public readings, please visit the Calendar page.
