2020 National Poetry Series Winner Teresa K. Miller

The National Poetry Series was established in 1978 to recognize and promote excellence in contemporary poetry by ensuring the publication of five books of poetry annually through participating publishers. In addition, the National Poetry Series has partnered with Miami Book Fair to award the Paz Prize in Poetry, which ensures bilingual publication for a book of poems written in Spanish. This conversation features Teresa K. Miller on Borderline Fortune, in conversation with the judge who selected her manuscript, Carol Muske-Dukes, Twin Cities. Borderline Fortune is a meditation on intangible family inheritance – of unresolved intergenerational conflicts and traumas in particular – set against the backdrop of our planetary inheritance as humans. As species go extinct and glaciers melt, Miller asks what we owe one another and what it means to echo one’s ancestors’ grief and fear. Drawing on her family history, from her great-grandfather’s experience as a schoolteacher on an island in the Bering Strait to her father’s untimely death, as well as her pursuit of regenerative horticulture, Miller seeks through these beautifully crafted poems to awaken from the intergenerational trance and bear witness to our current moment with clarity and attention. With a special introduction by Daniel Halpern, founder of HarperCollins imprint Ecco and the National Poetry Series.

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