We are excited to announce that our very own Rick Barot is the recipient of this year’s PEN Open Book Award for his poetry collection“Chord.” The PEN America Center, which works to ensure the freedom of expression through writing, awards this prize each year to a work of literature published by an author of color. Past winners include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Juan Felipe Herrera.

Rick Barot has published three books of poetry: The Darker Fall (2002) received the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, and Want (2008) won the 2009 Grub Street Book Prize. His most recent book, Chord (2015), is on the shortlist for PEN’s Open Book Award, a recognition for a book-length work by an author of color. Since 2014, he has also served as the poetry editor for NER, after contributing as a reader for many years. Rick lives in Tacoma, Washington, and is the director of the M.F.A. Program at the Rainier Writers Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University.

Rick Barot was recognized besides Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mia Alvar and Toni Morrison at a ceremony in Manhattan. Congratulations to Rick and all the other prize winners!