Neil Tangaroa Aitken, whose work is lauded for its lyricism and imagery, is the 2007 winner of the Philip Levine Prize in Poetry, which includes a $1,500 award and publication of his first book, “The Lost Country of Sight.”

The Master of Fine Arts program at California State University, Fresno sponsors the award, which honors professor emeritus Philip Levine, a founder of Fresno State’s poetry writing program and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry.

Aitken was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and various parts of the United States and Canada. In 2007, he began earning a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California.

Aitken is the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Barn Owl Review, Crab Orchard Review, The Drunken Boat, Poetry Southeast, Portland Review, RHINO, Sou’wester, and elsewhere. His work has been anthologized in Homage to Vallejo and Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California Poets and is forthcoming in Completely Mixed Up: An Asian North American Mixed Race Anthology.

Levine Prize final judge C. G. Hanzlicek, a poet and former Fresno State professor, chose Chandhok’s manuscript from among 28 finalists. Hanzlicek wrote of the winning entry: “It’s difficult to believe that Neil Aitken’s “The Lost Country of Sight” is a first book, since there is mastery throughout the collection. His ear is finely tuned, and his capacity for lyricism seems almost boundless. What stands out everywhere in the poems is his imagery, which is not only visually precise but is also possessed of a pure depth.”

The Philip Levine Prize in Poetry is an annual book contest open to all poets (except current or former students or faculty of Fresno State). It offers a $1,500 prize plus publication and distribution by Anhinga Press.

Related link:

www.csufresno.edu/crwr/07philprize05.htm