Asbury Professor selected as finalist for Coniston Prize

October 27, 2021

Asbury professor Kristina Erny was recently chosen as one of five finalists for the highly competitive Coniston Prize in Poetry, given annually in recognition of an exceptional group of poems by a woman writing in English. Professor Erny is the Director of Asbury’s Creative Writing program where she teaches classes in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. She graduated from Asbury in 2006 and went on to earn an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona.

The awards ceremony, hosted by White Whale Books in Pittsburgh, was broadcast on Zoom on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, with the five finalists reading from their winning selections. Afterward Professor Erny said, “To be named among such talented poets was a gift, and it was a privilege to share my work with family, friends, and colleagues around the world. ”

Radar Poetry, which hosted the event, included the winning poems in Issue 31, which is exclusively features the complete work of the Coniston finalists. Professor Erny’s paintings is on the cover of the magazine and is paired with the winner, Grace McNair’s, poems. View the issue online.

Professor Erny’s work has also been the recipient of the Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award and the Tupelo Quarterly Inaugural Poetry Prize. Her manuscript Wax of What’s Left was a finalist for the Noemi Press Book Award, the Ahsahta Sawtooth Poetry Prize, and the Colorado Prize for Poetry.