Congratulations to Jessica Piazza's Interrobang for winning the Balcones Poetry Prize from Austin Community College!
Interrobang by Jessica Piazza, published by Red Hen Press, is Piazza's first book. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Piazza earned a BS at Boston University, where she interned with US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, and an MA at the University of Texas; she has recently completed a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California.
The judges of the Balcones Poetry Prize agree that Piazza's poetry has an air of potent volatility. She works with a great knowledge of and love for words. The wordplay, with sounds developing sense in surprising ways, makes for great fun and insight. Often working within the sonnet form, the poet "makes it new" through her voice that remains uninhibited by rhyme scheme or line length and even seems to thrive on such strictures. She will grab you by the hand and run with you through familiar mazes of form, stopping briefly to delight in intimacy and assonance.
Piazza will read from Interrobang at Austin Community College on April 8th, 2015.
Congratulations Jessica Piazza!