Dr. Javadizadeh will be presented with his awarnd on 11 January 2020, during the association’s annual convention, to be held in Seattle. The members of the selection committee were Elizabeth Bearden (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison); Christopher D. Castiglia (Penn State Univ., University Park), chair; Beth Piatote (Univ. of California, Berkeley); Melissa E. Sanchez (Univ. of Pennsylvania); and John H. Smith (Univ. of California, Irvine).
In their citation the committee wrote: "'The Atlantic Ocean Breaking on Our Heads' rose gracefully from a comparison of a line appearing in poems written by Claudia Rankine and Robert Lowell to a far-reaching and sophisticated argument about lyric subjectivity and whiteness. Based primarily on insightful close readings of texts by Rankine and Lowell, Kamran Javadizadeh’s essay skillfully works those astute interpretations in a broader context involving the racial dynamics of various genres of twentieth-century poetry, particularly lyric verse (confessional and experimental). Javadizadeh’s exceptionally thoughtful essay has important implications beyond the two authors at its center, making a substantial contribution to the field of new lyric studies."
See here to learn more about Dr. Javadizadeh's article.
