The University of Utah Press is creating an annual poetry competition in memory of the late poet Agha Shahid Ali.
Ali served as a creative writing teacher, focusing on poetry, for three years before he stopped teaching due to cancer, which killed him on Dec. 8, 2001.
“The graduate students found him very approachable and warm. He had very close relations to the students,” said Stuart Culver, chairman of the English department.
To commemorate Ali, the U Press is asking students to submit poetry manuscripts for a chance at publication.
The press will accept book-length poetry manuscripts during the month of March only, beginning in 2003. A competition judge will read finalist manuscripts and the winning entry will be published the following year in April, during National Poetry Month.
Complete submission guidelines for the competition will be available on the press Web site, www.upress.utah.edu, by this fall.
Culver hopes the competition will introduce students to Ali’s work.
“We hope this keeps alive his memory, and draws people to read his poetry,” he said. “He was understood as one of our most nationally and internationally recognized writers.”
Ali was born in India and then moved to the United States to pursue an education. He received his doctorate at Pennsylvania State University, and before coming to the U, he taught at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
“He understood poetry not only in English, but in Hindi and Muslim traditions as well,” Culver said.
A public memorial service for Ali will be held Sunday, May 5 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Languages and Communication Building.