Western Colorado University Graduate Students, Alum, and Faculty in Poetry Win Nationwide Awards

“Being surrounded by poets whose work is consistently recognized and celebrated provides an unparalleled environment for our students to thrive.”

Poets in Western Colorado University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing are getting a lot of attention from publishers and earning accolades from across the industry.

While winning awards and earning publications are significant achievements on their own, they also help students and alumni advance their literary careers and gain practical knowledge of the writing and publishing industry. That kind of attention also illuminates the Poetry Concentration’s mission to foster a diverse faculty of award-winning writers who are actively publishing and working within the poetry community.

Some notable accomplishments of Poetry students, alumni, and faculty are:

• Faculty member Maya Jewell Zeller, who won the 2022 New American Poetry Prize for her manuscript out takes/ glove box, which was published in October 2023.
• Faculty member and alum Erica Reid, who won the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize for her manuscript Ghost Man on Second, which was published in March 2024.
• Director of Poetry and Assistant Director of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing, CMarie Fuhrman, recorded another season of Terra Firma.
• CMarie Fuhrman’s and faculty member Derek Sheffield’s co-edited anthology, Cascadia Field Guide, won the Pacific Northwest Book Association (PNBA) Award.
• Current student Brittney Bergin-Foss was nominated for a Pushcart prize for “Soft Death,” published by Twenty Bellows.
• Current student Blaise Vance (writing as Isabel Gray) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for “Letter to America: This Act Shall Take Effect,” published by org.
• Alum Camelia Finley self-published a hybrid poetic epic, Matryoshka. It is available on Amazon in hardback, paperback, and Kindle.
• Current student Jarrett Ziemer won a 2024 Jack Straw Fellowship.
• First-year student Shelli Rottschafer published “Open Range: A Haibun”in Panoply and  “Silence is a Prayerful Sound: A Sestina” in A Collaborative Space for All.
• Alum Joshua Williams published a haiku collection, silent after, through Red Moon Press in January 2024.
• Alum Teow Lim Goh signed with Torrey House Press to publish her fourth book, Bitter Creek, which will be published in Spring 2025.

“The recognition our faculty and students receive is a testament to the outstanding quality of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Western,” Poetry Director CMarie Fuhrman said. “Being surrounded by poets whose work is consistently recognized and celebrated provides an unparalleled environment for our students to thrive.”

To learn more about Western Colorado University’s Poetry program or the Graduate Program in Creative Writing, contact Program Support Coordinator Sarah Goettsch at gpcw@western.edu. Visit the website at western.edu/mfa to explore Poetry and various other concentrations or to submit an application.

Author Credit: Seth Mensing

Photo Credit: Courtesy