November 2005—LIONS DON’T EAT US by Constance Quarterman Bridges has been chosen as the 2005 winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the best unpublished manuscript by an African-American poet. Judge Sonia Sanchez said, “These poems radiate a tough minded herstory/history that demands that we investigate, listen to, dance within, and defend their beauty.” Graywolf Press will publish the title in September 2006.Poetry editor Jeffrey Shotts remarked, “LIONS DON’T EAT US is Constance Quarterman Bridges’ powerful and moving account of her family, part African American, part Cherokee. Using her mother’s diary and her own research as a guide, she delves into her ancestry, and produces poems that describe a national history—one fraught with adversity, slavery, and racial inequalities, but also survival, resilience, and the inheritance of family narrative. We’re proud to publish LIONS DON’T EAT US at Graywolf, and to continue our partnership with Cave Canem.”

Graywolf Press has worked with the Cave Canem Foundation since its inception in 1999. The Cave Canem Poetry Prize aims to discover exceptional manuscripts by African American poets, who have not been professionally published. Previous winners include Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey, Leaving Saturn by Major Jackson, Black Swan by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, The Body’s Question by Tracy K. Smith, and The Listening by Kyle Dargan.

Constance Quarterman Bridges lives in New Jersey. Her poetry has appeared in African American Review, Potomac Review, and in The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry. She is a recipient of a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Sonia Sanchez is a poet, activist, and scholar, who has written sixteen books, including Does Your House Have Lions?, Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums: Love Poems, and Shake Loose My Skin. Known as one of the leaders of the Black Arts Movement, she has lectured at over 500 universities and colleges in the United States and abroad extensively.

Graywolf Press is an independent, not-for-profit publisher dedicated to the creation and promotion of thoughtful and imaginative contemporary literature essential to a vital and diverse culture.  For more information please visit us at www.graywolfpress.org.

The Cave Canem Foundation is an organization founded to promote the development of emerging African American poets and to bring the rich diversity of African American poetry to a broader audience.