Postmark deadline for Wyoming Arts Council poetry fellowships is June 8

Brian Turner. Listen to a March 27, 2009, BBC Radio "Poetry from the Front Line" podcast featuring Turner.

Friday, June 8, is the postmark deadline or the Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowships in poetry.

To apply, you must be a Wyoming resident, 18 or older, and not enrolled as a full-time student pursuing high school, college or university art-related degrees. There is no entry fee.

Up to three, $3,000 awards will be given. Winning poets also will receive a $500 stipend to attend the Equality State Book Festival in Casper Sept. 14-15 and read from their work with fellowship judge Brian Turner.

Turner is a soldier-poet and the author of two poetry collections, Phantom Noise (2010) and Here, Bullet (2005). His work is drawn from his seven years in the U.S. Army, including one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Prior to that, he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division. Turner was also featured in Operation Homecoming, a unique documentary that explores the firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women through their own words. He earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon and has lived abroad in South Korea.

At the book festival in Casper, Turner will participate on a panel about soldier-writers with Luis Carlos Montalvan, U.S. Army Iraq War veteran and author of Until Tuesday: The Story of a Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him.

Printable applications are available on the Wyoming Arts Council web site at http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org/. To receive in the mail, call the WAC at 307-777-7742. For more information, contact Michael Shay, 307-777-5234 or mike.shay@wyo.gov.