The Center for Creative Writing and Poetry
The Poetry Center is excited to share updates from the recently completed period of strategic planning led by Professor Nancy Pearson. First, we are shifting the name of the poetry center to the more inclusive Center for Creative Writing and Poetry (CCWP). Second, Dr. Kristine Ervin will serve as the Director of the CCWP for this first year. We are excited for the CCWP to thrive under Kristine's leadership and to bring together the great work that our creative writing and poetry faculty have been doing - all while providing more focused ways to support our students, faculty, and the community.
The Center for Creative Writing and Poetry will continue the Spencer Poetry Awards (e.g., Donald Justice Poetry Prize, Spencer Undergraduate Poetry Awards, and Wil Mills Chapbook Award), invite poets and creative writers to share their work with students and the community, and support the growth and development of the poets and creative writers in our midst.
Please continue to check back to this page and the Poetry Facebook for updates and news about upcoming events.
The CCWP offers a variety of programs and activities that help expand its mission of bringing poetry to an ever-widening audience.
Awards and Activities
- The Spencer Poetry Awards, including:
- the Donald Justice Poetry Prize
- the Iris N. Spencer Undergraduate Poetry Award
- the Myong Cha Son Haiku Award
- the Wil Mills Chapbook Award
- the Rhina P. Espaillat Award
- the Sonnet Poetry Award
- the Villanelle Poetry Award
- Poet-in-residence
- Poetry reading series
- Mini-conferences on topics related to poetic craft
The West Chester University Center for Creative Writing and Poetry offers an active, interesting, and diverse slate of activities. We invite you to join us and discover the joys of poetry.
Spring 2024: Wil Mills winner, Guy D’Annolfo; judge and resident poet, Ernest Hilbert; Donald Justice judge and keynote speaker, Patricia Smith; and DJ winner, Sunni Wilkinson are all smiles at the Pop-Up Poetry Festival. Photo Credit: Melissa Reitnour
Shirley Lim Fellowship Opportunity
Purpose of the fund:
The Shirley Geok-lin Lim Award is an annual distribution of up to $1,000 for the chosen recipient to attend Poetry Workshops. The distribution may be used for economy travel and accommodations.
The recipient must be a K-12 teacher from the United States who actively teaches the writing of poetry. Applicants must submit a letter from their principal verifying they teach writing and poetry in the classroom. They must submit 3-6 original poems in form and a copy of a lesson plan for teaching poetry. Submissions will be directed to the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities for review in coordination with the Center for Creative Writing and Poetry Director. Please submit all documents to poetry@wcupa.edu with a subject line of “Shirley Lim Award.”
Background Info:
Born in Malacca, Malaysia, Shirley Geok-lin Lim was raised by her Chinese father and attended missionary schools. Although her first languages were Malay and the Hokkien dialect of Chinese, she was reading English poetry by the time she was six. At 10, her first poem was published in The Malacca Times; by age 11, she knew she wanted to be a poet. She earned her B.A. from the University of Malaya and her Ph.D, from Brandeis University.
Lim considers herself primarily a poet, although she has also written three books of short stories, numerous critical texts, three novels, and a memoir. Her debut collection, Crossing the Peninsula and Other Poems (Heinemann, 1980) won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, a first for a woman and an Asian. Her ten poetry collections include three published in 2015, Ars Poetica for the Day, The Irreversible Sun, and Do You Live In? Embracing the Angel focused on the Democracy Movement that she observed first hand while a Visiting Distinguished Professor in Hong Kong in 2014. Her many awards include the UCSB Faculty Research Lecturer Award (the highest honor UCSB offers its faculty), Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer Awards, two American Book Awards, and the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lim was a professor of English and chair of the Women’s Studies department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She retired in 2012 after almost two decades of service to the university. She also taught at MIT and served as Chair Professor of English at University of Hong Kong.
Poetry Center Mission Statement
The West Chester University Poetry Center was created in 2000 to further the study and appreciation of poetry. The goals of the Center are to:
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provide the nation's finest instruction in the diverse traditional techniques of poetry.
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provide an international forum for the discussion of poetic form and prosody.
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train teachers in the art of teaching poetry and poetic form.
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foster the necessary dialogue between practicing poets and critics in a culture that too often separates them.
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recognize poetic achievement through the Spencer Awards.
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illustrate the important connections between contemporary poetry and fine printing.
Poetry Center Advisory Board
The West Chester University CCWP Advisory Board supports the overall objectives of the Center, including the Spencer Poetry Awards, through promotional and fund raising activities.
Board members are identified and recommended by the members of the Center for Creative Writing and Poetry Advisory Board and the Program Director of the CCWP in consultation with the West Chester University Advancement Office. All appointments to the Board are approved and made by the President of West Chester University. The Board is composed of members/advocates of the arts community, University alumni, and local and national business and civic leaders.
Current Poetry Center Board Members
- Kean Spencer, President
- Emily Culbertson, WCU Foundation Director of Development
- Rhina Espaillat
- Kat Gilbert
- Dana Gioia
- Jeff Hardin
- Kyle Spencer
- Chris Vogt-Hennessy