We are pleased to share the news that NER poet and assistant professor of African American Studies Dr. Natalie Graham has won the 2016 Cave Canem poetry prize for her manuscript “Begin with a Failed Body.” The Cave Canem poetry prize is given by the Cave Canem foundation, “a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.”

Dr. Graham will receive a cash prize, and her manuscript will be published by The University of Georgia Press in the fall of 2017.

A native of Gainesville, Florida, Dr. Graham earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at Michigan State University as a University Distinguished Fellow. Her poems have appeared in Callaloo, New England Review, Valley Voices: A Literary Review and Southern Humanities Review; and her articles are forthcoming in The Journal of Popular Culture and Transition. She is a Cave Canem fellow and assistant professor of African American Studies at California State University, Fullerton. Her poems “The Temptation of Saint Anthony,” “Judas Kiss,” and “Last Lament for Judas” were published in NER 32.2.