4th Annual Backbone Press Chapbook Competition

We are pleased to announce Austin Sanchez-Moran as the winner of our 4th Annual Chapbook Competition. Final judge, Tyree Daye, selected his chapbook manuscript, Rhinocerotica along with runner up, Chris Slaughter’s manuscript, Dig. Pre-ordering for both chapbooks will be available soon.

Final Judge’s Comments:

“The poems in Rhinocerotica are inventive yet tender. In the end, I do not know if I am the rhino, and the poems want me to see my larger connection with the world—or, if the rhino is made human, so I, a human, will pay attention, and so I fail the earth once again. In these poems, the Rhino is an “I” and an “I” in a rhino’s body. Taking from Dorothea Lasky, these poems are “so close to a self (or the self)—and so far away from it at the same time—that the reader can’t help but see a real self in it.” These poems are full of magic and everydayness made brilliant by the rhino. I love the work the chapbook makes me do.”

Editors Comments:

Dig is skillful and clever and magical! Wrought with figurative language and lyrically engaging storytelling, the poems traverse the complexities of urban family life with anguish, humor, self-therapy, and more. Dig is dense from beginning to end. It is inspiring.”

Pre-Order Information:

Both titles will be released late summer 2022. You can pre-order copies via the following PayPal links:

Dig by Chris Slaughter

Rhinocerotica by Austin Sanchez-Moran

 

The Backbone Press Chapbook Competition is funded, in part, by the Durham Arts Council.