Gregory Djanikian was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and came to the United States when he was eight years old. He has published seven poetry collections, the latest of which is Sojourners of the In-Between (CMU Press). His work appears in American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, Boulevard, Poetry, Southern Review, and TriQuarterly, among others. Until retiring, he was the longstanding Director of Creative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania, where he greatly enriched both the Adroit Journal as well as its staff of emerging writers.
We recognize and encourage the gift of such support by offering it ourselves; in honor of Greg’s contribution to emerging student and non-student writers at Penn and around the world, we recognize six emerging poets as Gregory Djanikian Scholars in Poetry each year.
All emerging writers who have not published full-length collectionsare eligible (regardless of age, geographic location, or educational status), and are encouraged to submit. Writers with forthcoming debut full-length collections are eligible so long as collections won’t appear earlier than April 2023.
Gregory Djanikian Scholars receive $100 and publication of their portfolios of poems in a future issue of the Adroit Journal. Finalists will be awarded copies of Greg’s latest collection, Sojourners of the In-Between, and a list of semifinalists determined by the editors will be released with results.
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The deadline to submit to Djanikian Scholars 2023 was January 12, 2023. Read on for our 2023 results!
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Announcing the 2023 Djanikian Scholars in Poetry!
We are thrilled to announce our 2023 class of Gregory Djanikian Scholars in Poetry!
2023 Scholars
Erik Jonah, of Eugene, Oregon Willie Lee Kinard III, of Newberry, South Carolina Emily Lawson, of Vancouver, Canada Sarah Fathima Mohammed, of Los Gatos, California Kelan Nee, of Houston, Texas Gabriel Ramirez, of New York, New York
2023 Finalists
Sara Afshar, of Ypsilanti, Michigan Brian Gyamfi, of Ann Arbor, Michigan Laura Joyce-Hubbard, of Highland Park, Illinois Kéchi Nne Nomu, of Brooklyn, New York Jonny Teklit, of Washington, District of Columbia Hua Xi, of Brooklyn, New York
2023 Semifinalists
Stephanie Chang, of Gambier, Ohio Yong-Yu Huang, of Evanston, Illinois Ashley Keyser, of Chicago, Illinois Kwame Opoku-Duku, of New York, New York Troy Osaki, of Seattle, Washington Weijia Pan, of Houston, Texas Genevieve Payne, of Hudson, New York Tanvi Roberts, of Belfast, Ireland Sher Ting, of Singapore Matthew Tuckner, of Brooklyn, New York Jesús I. Valles, of Providence, Rhode Island David Joez Villaverde, of Ann Arbor, Michigan Eric Yip, of Cambridge, England
Submissions may include up to six poems (max of ten single-spaced pages). Simultaneous submissions, previously published submissions, and submissions recognized by outside organizations are accepted, provided that a) a full catalogue of publication history for enclosed poems is included in the submission and b) at least one poem in the submission remains unpublished. Submitters should promptly add a note to their entry on Submittable if work disclosed as unpublished is accepted elsewhere.
Writers are welcome to additionally submit enclosed work to the Adroit Prizes as well as through our general submission portal. We are also happy to consider revisions of work previously submitted to the Adroit Prizes, to the Djanikian Scholars opportunity, or through the general submissions portal (including work currently in progress or work that has recently received an editorial decision). Finally, please note that each writer may not send more than one entry per year for Djanikian Scholars.
As mentioned above, all emerging writers who have not published full-length collectionsare eligible (regardless of age, geographic location, or educational status), and Gregory Djanikian Scholars will receive $100 and publication in a future issue of the Adroit Journal.
We have set a non-refundable submission fee of $15. If you require financial assistance, you may submit a fee waiver with this form. Due to fee waivers’ processing time, fee waivers were only accepted until January 8, 2023 @ 11:59pm PT.
Please direct any questions to editors@theadroitjournal.org.
Janan Alexandra, of Nicosia, Cyprus Aishvarya Arora, of Middle Village, New York Jamaica Baldwin, of Lincoln, Nebraska Kaveh Bassiri, of Fayetteville, Arkansas Akhim Y. Cabey, of Columbus, Ohio Christian J. Collier, of Chattanooga, Tennessee Michaela Coplen, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania Steven Espada Dawson, of Austin, Texas Joshua Garcia, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Gustav Parker Hibbett, of Dublin, Ireland Patrycja Humienik, of Seattle, Washington Anthony Immergluck, of Madison, Wisconsin Willie Lee Kinard III, of Newberry, South Carolina You Li, of New Haven, Connecticut Sarah Fathima Mohammed, of Los Gatos, California Tawanda Mulalu, of New York, New York Elena Ramirez-Gorski, of Roseville, Minnesota David Joez Villaverde, of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Kemi Alabi, of Chicago, Illinois Austin Araujo, of Bloomington, Indiana S. Erin Batiste, of Brooklyn, New York Armen Davoudian, of Stanford, California Victoria C. Flanagan, of Madison, Wisconsin Sam Herschel Wein, of Chicago, Illinois Karisma Price, of New Orleans, Louisiana Gaia Rajan, of Andover, Massachusetts Daniel Schonning, of Fort Collins, Colorado Courtney Faye Taylor, of Kansas City, Missouri Joshua Tvrdy, of Raleigh, North Carolina Lydia Wei, of North Potomac, Maryland
Jessica Abughattas, of Altadena, California Kiran Bath, of New York, New York Daniel Barnum, of Columbus, Ohio Stephanie Chang, of British Columbia, Canada Amanda Gunn, of Cambridge, Massachusetts Hannah Perrin King, of Cool, California Max McDonough, of New York, New York Hua Xi, of Brooklyn, New York
Threa Almontaser, of Raleigh, NC Antonio de Jesús López, of East Palo Alto, CA Kathryn Hargett, of Birmingham, AL Kaja Rae Lucas, of Laurel, MD John Paul Martinez, of Madison, WI Evan McGarvey, of Dallas, TX Megan Denton Ray, of Chattanooga, TN Lauren Schlesinger, of Oak Park, IL Seth Simons, of Walnut Creek, CA Jess Smith, of Lubbock, TX Rushi Vyas, of Brooklyn, NY
Alex Chertok, of Dryden, NY Lyrik Courtney, of Decatur, GA Kate Gaskin, of Montgomery, AL Matthew Gellman, of Brooklyn, NY Alycia Pirmohamed, of Scotland Joey Reisberg, of Towson, MD
