A generous New York alum, Evelyn Barish ’56, has provided for a poetry prize to be awarded by the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City to a Bryn Mawr alum. In solidarity against and defiance of anti-Asian violence, this year’s poetry contest is focused on a well-known Japanese poetry format, the haiku.  The topic, naturally, is Bryn Mawr College. We are grateful to Evelyn Barish for her vision, generosity, and award.

Evelyn Barish ’56 a native of New York, graduated from Bryn Mawr College (magna cum laude) and studied at Oxford as a Fulbright scholar, writing her dissertation for New York University. She began her teaching career at Cornell University, later becoming professor of English at the City University of New York, its Graduate Center, and the College of Staten Island. Using archival sources, her books have been based on extensive research, and her biography, Emerson: The Roots of Prophecy, won the Gauss Prize awarded by Phi Beta Kappa in 1989 as “the year’s best work of criticism and scholarship.” She is also the author of Arthur Hugh Clough: Growth of a Poet’s Mind, Emerson In Italy, and The Double Life of Paul De Man for which the Bryn Mawr Club of NY hosted a book party event in 2014. Evelyn is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Radcliffe Institute, and the Fulbright Commission.

This haiku poetry contest, focused on Bryn Mawr College, is open to all Mawrters and requires no entry fee from participants.

WHAT: The Bryn Mawr Club of New York City Evelyn Barish ’56 Poetry Contest

WHEN:  All Poetry Contest Deadlines are (emailed or postmarked) by 4 p.m. EST March 1, 2022

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: brynmawrclubnyc@gmail.com.