Patricia Dobler Poetry Award Winners

About the winner: Shirley Jones Luke is a poet and writer living in Boston, MA. She received an MA in English from the University of Massachusetts Boston and an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. Her work focuses on Blackness and how it intersects with womanhood, culture and society. Luke’s work has appeared in Longleaf Review, MAYDAY, Barren Magazine, Adanna, BlazeVOX, Deluge, Vox Poetica, Boston Accent Lit, Porridge, Fire Poetry and Willawaw, and other journals. She was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize for the poem “Drumming Season,” published in WORDPEACE. A graduate of The Watering Hole Poetry Retreat, Luke has attended workshops across the country and around the world, including Bread Loaf, the Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Paris Writing Retreat, Tin House and VONA (Voices of Our Nations). She has also attended workshops on Martha’s Vineyard and at Open Mouth in Arkansas. Luke is currently working on her poetry manuscript.