❋Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan was born in Santa Monica and raised in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. in English from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, earned an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow, and completed her M.A. in literature at the University of California at Berkeley. At the University of Houston she was a Cambor Fellow and earned a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing. Kageyama-Ramakrishnan published three books while she was living: Shadow Mountain; Bear, Diamonds, and Crane; and Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. She passed away in 2016.

We are also happy to note the finalist judge for this year’s contest will be Keetje Kuipers (Keetje Kuipers – Poet).

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

1. Submit a brief cover letter as a separate document with your name, phone number, current address, and e-mail address.

2. Work must be original and not created with the use of Artificial Intelligence.

3. Minimum pages accepted is 60 and no more than 100. If slightly outside the noted margins, we will still consider it.

4. Feel free to list your poems’ previous appearances in other publications.

5. Include a third person bio, if desired.

6. Expect to hear back within three months. If you don’t, please do send us a query.

7. Submission fee is collected via payment app or Zelle.

8. Published author receives a set of copies and an award payout of 200 USD.

9. This contest is meant for a first collection/ book of poetry. If you have a chapbook or two, we will still consider your full manuscript.

10. If you have any questions, contact Colin at colinjamessturdevant@passthesaltpresse.org