HWS News
9 December 2024 Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize Winner
The Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize winner is Matthew Morris.
Matthew Morris’ manuscript was the 2024 winner of the Deborah Tall Lyric Book Prize. His book, The Tilling, is out Dec. 10 and available for purchase.
Named for the late poet and HWS professor of English, the biennial Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize was founded by the editors of Seneca Review, HWS’ national literary journal, in 2017 to support innovative work in the essay form, including cross-genre and hybrid work, verse forms, text and image, connected or serial pieces, and/or beyond category projects.
Morris’ manuscript was selected from a competitive pool of nearly 200 submissions. His work is being published by Seneca Review Books, an imprint of Hobart and William Smith Colleges Press.
"The news that my manuscript had been chosen for the prize was both startling and profoundly moving," Morris says. "I poured so much of myself into these essays, and the essays in turn taught me about living—how I want to live, who I want to be. In placing their belief in me, Geoff and the rest of the team at Seneca Review Books helped me to remember what most matters to me about the writerly act: the chance to reach across distances, out of loneliness and to a place of shared humanity."
Morris will give a reading of his work on campus on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025 at 7 p.m. in Bartlett Theatre.
On campus, students in Associate Professor of Writing & Rhetoric and English & Creative Writing Geoffrey Babbitt’s “Small Press Book Publishing,” participated in selecting the finalists in the competition. Read more about the course here.
Ultimately, the final selection of Morris’ manuscript for the prize was made by judge Wendy S. Walters, an Associate Professor of Nonfiction in the Writing Program of the School of the Arts at Columbia University. She is the author of Multiply/Divide: On the American Real and Surreal, which was named a best book of the year by Buzzfeed, Flavorwire, Literary Hub, The Root and Huffington Post.
Walters joined “Small Press Book Publishing” via Zoom last year to share her reasoning for selecting Morris’ manuscript.
“I wanted to see which manuscript stayed with me and got under my skin. It has exceptional moments in the prose… I saw the writer as having a future beyond this book,” Walters said.
The Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize is awarded biannielly. The 2022 winner was Katherine Indermaur and her book I/I, which was published on Nov. 15, 2022 by Seneca Review Books.
