The Mechanics of Failure Wins the 2014 Poets @ Work Chapbook Prize
(from the official press release)
August 1, 2014
Poets at Work is pleased to announce that the winner of its first annual chapbook prize is Travis Mossotti of Webster Groves, Missouri for his collection, The Mechanics of Failure, which will be published by the newly formed Poets at Work Press later this year.
The Mechanics of Failure was chosen by Poets at Work executive director Gerry LaFemina, who says about the manuscript, “Mossotti’s The Mechanics of Failure is rooted in the great American tradition of working class poetry. Filled with landfills and Chrysler plants; with mortgage bills and cheap drinks, these poems engage the failing American empire and the people who populate it. We find in this poetry moments of praise and moments of communion.”
Mossotti is no stranger to success: his first collection, About the Dead, received the 2011 May Swenson Poetry Award by contest judge Garrison Keillor, and his second full-length collection, Field Study, won the 2013 Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize and will be published in 2014 with Bona Fide Books.
The Mechanics of Failure will be released later this fall, in conjunction with the call for manuscripts for the first annual Poets at Work Poetry Prize for a full-length collection of poems in English to be judged this year by Stephen Dunn. The Press is a division of Poets at Work, an international nonprofit dedicated to promoting and connecting poets worldwide. Contact info@poetsatwork.com or visit www.poetsatwork.org for more information.
