The entry anonymously chosen as the winner for the 2020 Catamaran Poetry Prize is Alison Luterman’s In the Time of Great Fires. These are poems brimming with life experience and deep with heart. The poems are spoken intimately to the reader with compassion, insight, and a squinty eye that doesn’t miss the details. The poet recounts both tragedies and joys, always in the context of a wish for more kindness in the world. In the world of In the Time of Great Fires, people are flawed but worthy of love. The poet reflects on a life lived with boldness and a willingness to open to the world in all its delicious confusion. In the Time of Great Fires embraces the present moment with all its difficulties, assuring us that as we face this most fearful time, we stand with other true seekers.

This event will be a conversation between Zack Rogow and Alison Luterman which will celebrate the publication and launch of the 2020 Catamaran Poetry Price Book Award Winner. Come and celebrate with us!

Alison Luterman lives in Oakland, California. Her books include the poetry collections Desire Zoo (Tia Chucha Press), The Largest Possible Life (Cleveland State University Press) and See How We Almost Fly (Pearl Editions) and a collection of essays, Feral City (SheBooks). Her writings have been published in The Sun, The New York Times, The Boston Phoenix, Rattle, The Brooklyn Review, Oberon, and other journals and anthologies. Alison has taught at The Writing Salon in Berkeley, Esalen Institute, and the Omega Institute, as well as at high schools, juvenile halls, and poetry festivals.

Launch Event: Alison Luterman in Conversation with Zack Rogow