Poet Tomás Morín wins prestigious American Poetry Review prize

By Ann Friou
University News Service
January 31, 2012

Tomás Q. Morín, senior lecturer in English at Texas State University-San Marcos, has been awarded the 2012 American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize for Poetry, for his manuscript A Larger Country.

His book was chosen by this year’s guest judge, poet Tom Sleigh, who will also write an introduction for the book.

The annual American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize in Poetry offers publication of a book of poems, a $3,000 award, and distribution by Copper Canyon Press through Consortium. The purpose of the prize is to encourage excellence in poetry and to provide a wide readership for a deserving first book of poems.

Morín is a Texas native. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Texas State, and a Master of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University. He is the recipient of scholarships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference and the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and he was a fellow at the Idyllwild Summer Arts Program.

His poems have appeared in New England Review, Narrative, Boulevard, Slate, Threepenny Review, Best New Poets and elsewhere.

The American Poetry Review is considered the nation’s preeminent poetry publication, and it is the most highly circulated poetry magazine in the world.

The Honickman Foundation and its affiliate, the Honickman Charitable Trust, are dedicated to supporting projects that promote the arts, education, health, social change and heritage.