Greensboro College Professor’s Poetry Book Wins Honorable Mention in N.C. Poetry Society Contest

GREENSBORO, N.C. – L. Wayne Johns, a professor of English at Greensboro College, has won honorable mention for the 2019 Brockman-Campbell Award for his first full-length poetry collection, “Antipsalm.”

The award has been given annually since 1977 by the N.C. Poetry Society for the best book of poetry by a North Carolina native or current resident. Previous winners include N.C. Poets Laureate Fred Chappell and Kathryn Stripling Byer.

Johns also was a finalist in the 2019 Randall Jarrell Poetry Contest, sponsored by the N.C. Writers’ Network. Award recipients from both contests will read from their work Sept. 14 at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines.

“Antipsalm,” which features poems of love and longing, “is as real a love story as you’re going to find,” said reviewer Cate Marvin, author of “Oracle.” “I am so haunted by the beauty of these poems, my hair stands on end: ‘Antipsalm’ pulls the ghosts from out the walls.”

This year’s Brockman-Campbell Award contest was judged by Michael Waters, an award-winning poet and editor who teaches at Monmouth and Drew universities in New Jersey.

Johns holds a B.A. from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College, an M.F.A. from Georgia State University, and a Ph.D. from Florida State University. He joined the faculty in 2007.

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and six master’s degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features a 17-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.greensboro.edu.

Think critically. Act justly. Live faithfully.

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Media Contact:
Lex Alexander, Director of Communications
lex.alexander@greensboro.edu

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