The Winner of the 2014 Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize is Sarah McCartt-Jackson

We are pleased to announce the winning chapbook: Children Born on the Wrong Side of the River by Sarah McCartt-Jackson.

Sarah McCartt-Jackson
photo by Karin Partin Wells

Sarah calls Kentucky home. She is currently the artist-in-residence for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She has published another chapbook called Vein of Stone.

Her works have been published in Indiana Review, Journal of American Folklore, The Fourth River, and NANO Fiction. Tidal Basin Review selected her as their inaugural Poetry Series Center Feature poet.

Our 2015 judge was Larry Thomas. Thomas is a former Poet Laureate of Texas, an inductee to the Texas Institute of Letters, and has published multiple volumes of poetry, most notably, Where Skulls Speak Wind. He has been nominated for five Pushcart Prizes.

Thomas said of Children Born on the Wrong Side of the River, "The brutality of life 'on the wrong side of the river' is brilliantly counterpointed by the elegance of lyrical diction and unforgettable imagery."

Children Born on the Wrong Side of the River will be released in April 2015 as both a paperback and digital edition.