Rochester, NY—BOA Editions, Ltd. is proud to announce that Leigh Lucas of San Francisco, CA is the winner of the 24th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. Her winning manuscript, Splashed Things, was selected by celebrated poet and writer Maya C. Popa from a pool of nearly 800 original submissions. Splashed Things will be published by BOA Editions in April 2026 as part of the New Poets of America Series with a foreword by Maya C. Popa. Lucas will also receive a $1,000 honorarium.
In selecting Splashed Things, final judge Maya C. Popa writes: “Profoundly affecting and finely crafted, this collection enacts the arc of grief from unthinkable pain towards eventual acceptance—even joy. Lucas writes with a moving candor and skill capturing the uncertainty, anger, and hopelessness experienced in the aftermath of suicide, and the mental and physical journey towards healing.”
On winning the Poulin Prize, Leigh Lucas writes: “I’m honored to receive the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize and to join BOA Editions. BOA has published so many poets I admire and it’s a dream to have my first full-length poetry collection find a home here.”
Leigh Lucas is a writer in San Francisco. Her chapbook Landsickness (Tupelo Press, 2024) was selected by Chen Chen for the 2023 Sunken Garden Poetry Chapbook Award. Leigh’s writing can be found in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, Adroit, Smartish Place, and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Stanford and an MFA from Warren Wilson.
Maya C. Popa is most recently the author of Wound is the Origin of Wonder (W. W. Norton, 2022), a finalist for the 2023 Levis Reading Prize from VCU. Her first full-length collection, American Faith (Sarabande, 2019), was a recipient of the North American Book Prize and a runner-up in the Kathryn A. Morton Prize judged by Ocean Vuong. She holds a PhD on the role of wonder in poetry and her newsletter, Poetry Today, is one of Substack’s best-selling featured publications. The Poetry Editor of Publishers Weekly, she teaches at NYU and elsewhere.
In addition to the winning manuscript, Popa selected five runners-up for the prize:
- Horse Called Just What You’re Looking For by Kate Arden
- Another Man by Jim Whiteside
- Cheap Blue Diamonds by Zach Linge
- By Morning by Michael Quattrone
- The Laughing Barrel by DeeSoul Carson
Established in 2000, the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize is awarded annually to honor a poet’s first full-length collection of poetry. The winner is selected each year by a nationally recognized poet from a competitive pool of manuscripts. Winning manuscripts are published within the A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America Series. Recent Poulin Prize winners have included Second Nature by Chaun Ballard, Beforelight by Matthew Gellman, and Good Grief, the Ground by Margaret Ray. Other renwoned debuts in the New Poets of America Series include Rose by Li-Young Lee, Awake by Dorianne Laux, and The Philosopher’s Club by Kim Addonizio.
Submissions for the 25th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize will be accepted from August 1-November 30, 2025 with the winner announced in spring 2026. Eligibility requirements and submission guidelines for the Poulin Prize are available at boaeditions.org/poulin.
BOA Editions, Ltd. is one of the premier independent publishers of contemporary poetry and literary fiction. Founded in 1976 by A. Poulin, Jr. to provide a venue for both new and established poets, BOA has released more than 300 titles, including more than 40 first collections of poetry. Many BOA titles and authors have been recognized with literary awards, including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
