VGCC Instructor honored by prestigious national poetry contest
Dr. Tanya Olson, an English instructor at Vance-Granville Community College and a Durham resident, has been identified as an up-and-coming poet by a nationally-known contest. From nearly 900 entries, Olson was one of four winners of the 2010 “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Contest, which is a partnership of the Unterberg Poetry Center at New York City’s 92nd Street Y and the magazine, Boston Review . Now in its fifth decade, the contest awards the Joan Leiman Jacobson Poetry Prizes to recognize the achievements of poets who have not yet published a book. The prestigious program is credited with “discovering” many distinguished writers.
This year’s judges — Nick Flynn, Susan Howe, and Claudia Rankine — selected works by Olson, Chelsea Jennings of Seattle, Brandon Kreitler of Brooklyn, New York, and Camille Rankine (no relation to the judge) of New York City, citing their intellectual complexity, artistic discernment, and clarity of vision as distinguishing characteristics. The winners read from their poems at the 92nd Street Y in New York on May 10. They also had some of their work published in Boston Review. The magazine published Olson’s poems entitled “Notes from Jonah’s Lecture Series” and “How Hard It Is Not to Buy a Tiger.”
Founded in 1874 as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, the 92nd Street Y is a lecture hall, performance space, school, health center and community organization located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Since 1939, the Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center has given discerning audiences a chance to hear the finest writers in every literary genre.
Olson has taught at VGCC since 2000. She holds the M.A. in Anglo-Irish Literature from University College, Dublin and the Ph.D. in 20th Century British Literature from UNC-Greensboro. Her work has been published in Cairn, Bad Subjects, Main Street Rag, Pedestal Magazine, Elysian Fields, Southern Cultures and elsewhere. She won first place in the 2005 Independent Poetry contest and was a runner-up for the 2009 Rita Dove Award. She has been honored with an Emerging Artist Grant from the Durham Arts Council and the 2008 Ethel Fortner Award. She helps co-ordinate Durham’s Third Friday, is a member of the Black Socks poetry group, and serves on the board of the Carolina Wren Press. In addition to being recognized for her poetry, Olson won the 2009 “Best Overall Story” Hippo award for “The Monti” storytelling series, which is based in Durham.
Above: From left, Camille Rankine of New York City, Chelsea Jennings of Seattle, VGCC instructor Dr. Tanya Olson of Durham and Brandon Kreitler of Brooklyn, New York were the winners of the “Discovery” Poetry Contest. (Photo courtesy of 92nd Street Y)
