2024 TWFest Poetry Contest Finalists
Congratulations to our 2024 Poetry Contest Finalists. Thanks to our poetry judge, Stephanie Burt, and our contest coordinator, James Giltenan.
Pictured above from the top, left to right, our finalists are:
Ezra Adamo is a student from New Orleans; he was a runner-up in 2021 and a finalist in 2022 for the Saints & Sinners Poetry Contest.
Caroline Bracken‘s poems have been published in New England Review, Poetry Wales, Gutter Magazine, Belfield Literary Review, The North, the Honest Ulsterman, Poetry News, Howl, the Irish Times, Best New British & Irish Poets 2019-2021, Erbacce Journal, the Fish Anthology, Aesthetica and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and DLR Arts Office.
CJ Calamari is a junior English major at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is inspired by queer love in the face of American poverty and is working towards further expanding his writing portfolio. Outside of writing, he loves playing guitar and stargazing in open fields.
WINNER: Kami Enzie is a Vienna-born, New Orleans-raised queer Nigerian-Filipino writer. Work appears or will soon in Black Warrior Review, Chicago Review, Image, Michigan Quarterly Review, Obsidian, Oversound, Passages North, The Poetry Review (UK), and elsewhere. His writing has received support from VCFA’s Postgraduate Writers’ Conference. He is an alum of Tin House Winter Workshops. He received an MFA in 2023 from The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. (@yungwerther)
RUNNER-UP: Natalie Rose Gove is a poet and writer currently piecing together joy and sorrow. They are published in Noyo Review, Postscript Magazine, Bayou Review, Snapdragon’s Anthology, and a few others. She listens to traditional jazz in New Orleans with their artistic partner and little red bean pup.
Elijah Guerra (they/them) is the author of the chapbook Feral Ecology (Bottlecap Press 2024) and a finalist for Gasher’s 2023 Bennett Nieberg Transpoetic Broadside Prize. Their poems are featured or forthcoming in ballast, Broken Lens Journal, DREGINALD, Fourteen Hills, Permafrost, TXTOBJX, and elsewhere. You can find them on Instagram @deercrossingthesea and on their website elijahguerra.com.
Bela Koschalk is a writer based in Chicago, Illinois. Their poetry has been recognized by the Poetry Society of America. You can read their work in Narrative Magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Denver Quarterly, CutBank, and elsewhere.
Jenny Maaketo (she/her) is a neurodivergent writer, psychiatric nurse, former professional actor, and poetry candidate in the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of Mississippi. She was named a semifinalist in the 2023 Crab Creek Review Poetry Prize, a finalist in the 2023 Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, and runner-up in the 2022 Patty Friedmann Writing Competition. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Atlanta Review, The Ocotillo Review, Crab Creek Review, Bear Review, Cordite Poetry Review, The Madison Review, and elsewhere. Jenny currently serves as the poetry editor for the Yalobusha Review. She lives in Abbeville, Mississippi on 66 acres with her husband, newborn son, four dogs, two cats, one chicken, and lots of love.
RUNNER-UP: Brittany Mishra helps make medical devices for a living and writes poetry as her passion. Brittany’s poetry can be found in Poet Lore, Spoon River Poetry Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Sky Island, Chestnut Review, and MoonPark Review. Brittany lives in southwest Washington with her husband, daughter, and big, extended family.
