Student-Run Press Kicks Off Poetry Contest

Aspiring poets at Harvard have their chance to shine this spring with a first-ever poetry contest sponsored by the Bow and Arrow Press—an independent student-run publisher in the basement of Adams House.

The contest, co-sponsored by the Grolier Poetry Bookshop on Plympton Street, is open to all undergraduates and will be judged by a panel that includes former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.

Winners’ poems will be printed in a limited-edition book published by Bow and Arrow, and one grand prize winner will have his or her poem published on large broad-side sheets.

Ralph G. Vetters ’85, a non-resident tutor at Adams House and a Harvard Medical School student, devised the contest when he took over the Bow and Arrow last year, with the hope that the contest would raise the profile both of student poetry on campus and of the press.

“This is an interesting and wonderful fine arts opportunity...It will elevate both poetry and the press at Harvard simultaneously,” Vetters said. “We want to get the press more active, and the students more involved.”

Besides Pinsky, the panel of judges is comprised of Louisa Solano, Grolier’s proprietor, and Rafael Campo, an accomplished poet and the 1996 winner of a poetry award from the Lambda Literary Foundation, which promotes gay and lesbian literature.

The Bow and Arrow, which is in the B-entry of Adams, had an auspicious beginning. During the 1980s and 1990s, under the direction of Gino Lee, the press became nationally known for its innovative designs and its typography. After Lee left, though, the press fell silent until Vetters took over last year.

“We’re taking advantage of Adams House’s reputation for being involved in the arts to further the craft of printing at Harvard,” he said.

Submissions for the contest are due on April 15 at the Grolier Poetry Bookshop, located at 6 Plympton St. in Harvard Square.