2011 Millay Prize Going to Master’s Student, Poet Jason Canniff

The University of Maine National Poetry Foundation will present this year’s Frank and Helene Crohn Edna St. Vincent Millay Prize to Maine native and master’s candidate Jason Canniff, a non-traditional student who teaches college composition and is poetry editor for The Stolen Island Review, the graduate literary magazine at UMaine.

Canniff and this year’s competition judge, nationally known poet David Trinidad, will offer readings during a ceremony Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. in Jenness Hall’s Soderberg Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The annual Millay poetry prize comes with a $1,500 cash award.

Originally from Mid-coast Maine, Canniff attended the University of Maine, studying English and working as a photography editor for The Maine Campus and as a part-time photographer for the Bangor Daily News. Canniff took time off in 2002 to explore a career in hospitality management and became involved in community projects.

He resumed classes at UMaine in 2010 and worked with poet and associate professor Jennifer Moxley while serving as the assistant to the New Writing Series. He finished his creative manuscript “Shading Strings” and received a B.A. in English with highest honors from the Honors College in May 2011.

Trinidad teaches poetry at Columbia College Chicago, where he co-edits the journal “Court Green.” His most recent book, “Dear Prudence: New and Selected Poems,” has just been published.  His other books include “The Late Show,” with coauthor D.A. Powell, and “Plasticville.” He also edited “A Fast Life: The Collected Poems of Tim Dlugos.”

Contact: Steve Evans, (207) 356-5921