In honor of the contributions renowned poet Gregory Djanikian (b. 1949) has made to the field and study of literature, The Adroit Journal is proud to announce the fifth class of Gregory Djanikian Scholars in Poetry—six exciting emerging poets we should all be watching. All emerging poets who have not published full-length collections were eligible for submission—regardless of age, geographic location, and educational status.
Selected from a competitive pool of international applicants, Djanikian Scholars receive stipends and publication. The 2022 class of Gregory Djanikian Scholars in Poetry includes Sarah Ghazal Ali (of Fremont, CA), Leyla Çolpan (of Pittsburgh, PA), Jordan Escobar (of Jamaica Plan, MA), Tennessee Hill (of Katy, TX), Anni Liu (of Minneapolis, MN), and Avia Tadmor (of New York, NY). More information about each scholar is available below.
We couldn’t be more excited about each unique, vibrant voice we’ve been fortunate enough to acquaint ourselves with this year. Each of these writers brings an undeniable fire to the page, and we can’t wait to see what they’ll write next.
Finalists for the 2022 Djanikian Scholars class include Megan J. Arlett (of Denton, TX), Asa Drake (of Ocala, FL), K. Iver (of Madison, WI), Jessica Kim (of La Cañada Flintridge, CA), Chiwenite Onyekwelu (of Anambra State, Nigeria), Zuleyha Ozturk Lasky (of Tallahassee, FL), Jessica Poli (of Lincoln, NE), and Fiona Stanton (of Boise, ID). Finalists will each receive Djanikian’s latest collection, as well as publication.
Semifinalists include Janan Alexandra (of Nicosia, Cyprus), Aishvarya Arora (of Middle Village, NY), Jamaica Baldwin (of Lincoln, NE), Kaveh Bassiri (of Fayetteville, AR), Akhim Y. Cabey (of Columbus, OH), Christian J. Collier (of Chattanooga, TN), Michaela Coplen (of Carlisle, PA), Steven Espada Dawson (of Austin, TX), Joshua Garcia (of Lewisburg, PA), Gustav Parker Hibbett (of Dublin, Ireland), Patrycja Humienik (of Seattle, WA), Anthony Immergluck (of Madison, WI), Willie Lee Kinard III (of Newberry, SC), You Li (of New Haven, CT), Sarah Fathima Mohammed (of Los Gatos, CA), Tawanda Mulalu (of New York, NY), Elena Ramirez-Gorski (of Roseville, MN), and David Joez Villaverde (of Ann Arbor, MI).
ABOUT THE 2022 DJANIKIAN SCHOLARS
Sarah Ghazal Ali is an incoming 2022-23 Stadler Fellow at Bucknell University. She currently serves as editor for Palette Poetry. Find her at sarahgali.com.
Leyla Çolpan is the author of What Passes & What Passes Through (Ghost City Press 2020), a collaborative chapbook with multimedia artist Sasha Barile. Hir work was the recipient of a 2019 Academy of American Poets Undergraduate Prize and the 2020 Gulf Coast Prize for Poetry, judged by Kazim Ali, and it has appeared in Poet Lore, Columbia Journal, Best New Poets, and others. Ze tweets @LeylaColpan.
Jordan Escobar is a writer based in Jamaica Plain, MA. His work can be found in or is forthcoming from Zone 3, Willow Springs, Colorado Review, and elsewhere. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for Best of the Net and has received a fellowship from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. He currently divides his time teaching at Emerson College and Babson College and working as a professional beekeeper.
Tennessee Hill holds an MFA from North Carolina State University. She has been featured in Best New Poets, POETRY, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She has work forthcoming from Nimrod, Fugue, and Arkansas International. She won the 2020 Porter House Review Editor’s Poetry Prize and serves as Poetry Editor for Gingerbread House Literary Magazine. She lives and teaches in Houston.
Anni Liu was born in Xī’ān, Shǎnxī, in the year of the goat. She is the author of Border Vista (2022), winner of the 2021 Lexi Rudnitsky Prize from Persea Books, and her work is featured in Ecotone, Ploughshares, Poetry Magazine, Two Lines, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Indiana University, where she served as poetry editor of Indiana Review. She also translates the poetry of Dù Yá (度涯) and edits prose at Graywolf Press. You can find her online at anniliuwrites.wordpress.org.
Avia Tadmor was born in Jerusalem. She holds an MFA in poetry and literary translation from Columbia University and a BA from Harvard University. Avia’s poetry received support from the Vermont Studio Center, the Rona Jaffe Foundation for the Bread Loaf Writers’ Summer Workshop, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where she was named a 2022 finalist for the Reynolds Fellowship in Poetry. Her poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from the New Republic, New England Review, the Adroit Journal, Apogee, and elsewhere. Avia is a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s Expository Writing Program and a current Poetry Fellow at the Office Hours Poetry Workshop in New York.
ABOUT THE ADROIT JOURNAL
At its foundation, The Adroit Journal has its eyes focused ahead, seeking to showcase what its global staff of writers sees as the future of poetry, prose, and art. The journal hosts the annual Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose, the Gregory Djanikian Scholars Program, and the online Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program.
Featured in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prizes: Best of the Small Presses, Poetry Daily, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and by the New York Times, the Paris Review, Teen Vogue, PBS NewsHour, and NPR, the journal has featured the voices of Terrance Hayes, Arthur Sze, Joanna Klink, D. A. Powell, Edith Pearlman, Jericho Brown, Kim Addonizio, Raymond Antrobus, Victoria Chang, Eve L. Ewing, Lydia Millet, NoViolet Bulawayo, Ocean Vuong, Arthur Sze, Sarah Kay, Ned Vizzini, Fatimah Asghar, Danez Smith, and beyond.