Dr. Gerald T. Perkoff
The Missouri Review is pleased to announce, in cooperation with the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the MU Master of Public Health Program, the creation of The Gerald T. Perkoff Literary Prize in Poetry. The annual award of $500 will be given to a writer published in the most recent volume of The Missouri Review whose poetry addresses some aspect of the experience or meaning of illness, healing, death and dying, or the practice of medicine. No application is required; the award is selected from the poetry published in The Missouri Review each year.
This new award honors Dr. Gerry Perkoff, a man who has long understood the value of both medicine and creative expression, and who continues to live a life of exploration and service. He is a professor emeritus of the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine, and the author of Thinking at 3 AM: Poems. Throughout his distinguished career in academic medicine, Dr. Perkoff worked to integrate the humanities into the practice and teaching of medicine.
Since 1978, The Missouri Review has helped shape the contemporary literary scene by offering the finest work of today’s most important writers and by discovering the brightest new voices in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Within Columbia and the greater Missouri community, The Missouri Review sponsors a number of public events, including the annual William Peden Prize in Fiction reading, The Missouri Review’s annual Murry’s Dinner, and the annual Jeffrey E. Smith Prize readings, and are widely publicized in print, radio, and online media. A prize in Jerry’s honor at this distinguished magazine will ensure that his achievements will be widely acknowledged and that the important link between humanities and medicine will be celebrated into the future.
Beginning in 2011, the annual winner of the Perkoff Prize will be announced in late October. The winner of the Perkoff Prize will be flown into Columbia for a reading and celebration, hosted by Dr. Steve Zweig, Chair of Family and Community Medicine. For further information, please contact Speer Morgan, editor-in-chief of The Missouri Review, via email at question@moreview.com
Poet Amy Newman
Update: We are pleased to announce that our inaugural winner of the Perkoff Prize is the poet Amy Newman. Her poems appeared in “Legacy,” our autumn 2011 issue. Her work explores mid-century artists – Theodore Rothke, John Barryman, Anne Sexton, Vija Vetra, and Delmore Schwartz – and their deteriorating mental conditions. We’re delighted to recognize her breathtaking work.
This award will be celebrated on Saturday, January 21st, 2012, at P.S. Gallery in downtown Columbia. This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 630 pm, and light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Check back with us soon for additional information on the reception and reading.
