River Paw Press is pleased to announce the Longlist for the 2026 Silent River Poetry Prize.
The following manuscripts have been selected for the 2026 Longlist in recognition of their literary merit and their distinction within this year’s submission pool:
- Pictures Never Taken – Zhu Xiao Di
- Half Undone – David Goodrum
- Knucklehead – Nick Godec
- Why I Prefer Mornings to Walk in the Woods – James Green
- When You Go Away, I Pretend That You’re Dead – Barbara Jennes
- The Staggering Sum – James Lilliefors
- Mute Gospel – Nancy Mohr
- Short Grass and Tough People – Phillip Periman
- We Wanted to Eat the Stars – Louhi Pohjola
- Egrets, in Flocks – Ed Ruzicka
- Seventy – Robert Shapiro
- Longer Word Than Sorrow – Karl Sherlock
- A Brief History of Punctuation II – Maurya Simon
- Where the River Slows – Hans Jorg Stahlschmidt
- Aria at the Close of Grief – M. Garcia Teutsch
- This Ordinary Mercy – Veronica Tucker
The judging process remains ongoing, and the Winner, Finalist, Semi-Finalist, and Honorable Mention (if awarded) will be announced shortly, following the completion of our editorial review and deliberations.
We extend our sincere congratulations to the longlisted authors and thank all who submitted their work for consideration.
Thank you for supporting independent literary publishing and for helping make this year’s Silent River Poetry Prize one of our strongest and most competitive to date.
River Paw Press
A Silent River Imprint
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