Feb.26, 2010

WVU Parkersburg English faculty member publishes award-winning poetry collection.

CONTACT:  Dr. Sandra Kolankiewicz, instructor of English, 304-424-8297.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A West Virginia University at Parkersburg faculty member is the author of "Turning Inside Out," an award-winning collection of poems, published by Black Lawrence Press,

Sandra Kolankiewicz is an instructor of English at WVU Parkersburg.  She received her Bachelor of Arts and doctorate from Ohio University and has attended writing seminars at Johns Hopkins University. 

"Turning Inside Out" was a recent winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition, an international venue for unpublished chapbooks of poems or short stories.   The book has since been published.

The publisher describes "Turning Inside Out" as " ... a book that follows the acrobatics of one’s emotional movements when it seems impossible to decide which is worse: the self or the world. It can also read as an index for how and when poems are essential, how and when they can save a life."

In addition, Dr. Kolankiewicz's poem "Spiders in the Head" appeared recently in the "Journal of Outsider Poetry and her poem "Winter Sonata" will be featured by Black Lawrence Press as part of its National Poetry Month observance.

After more than 20 years focusing on other genres, Dr. Kolankiewicz  returned to writing poetry in 2005.

Her collection of stories "Con/sequential Monologues" was a finalist for the 2007 Spokane Prize, the 2007 Tartt’s First Prize, the 2008 Hudson Prize, and the 2008 and 2009 G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for short fiction at BkMk Press. Her collection entitled "Isla" was a finalist for the 2007 Hudson Prize and the 2008 St. Lawrence Prize. Her novel "Blue Eyes Don't Cry" won the 2008 Hackney Award from Birmingham Southern and was a finalist for the 2008 George Garrett Prize from Texas Review Press.

cd2/25/10

For additional information, contact:
Connie Dziagwa
WVU Parkersburg
Executive Director
Institutional Advancement
(304-424-8203 - Office)
E-mail