University Times

California author Cheryl Dumesnil is the 2008 winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, awarded by the University of Pittsburgh Press for an outstanding first full-length book of poetry. Her collection, “In Praise of Falling,” was selected from several hundred entries and will be published by the Press in fall 2009.

Dumesnil is the editor of “Hitched! Wedding Stories From San Francisco City Hall” and co-editor, with Kim Addonizio, of “Dorothy Parker’s Elbow, Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos.”

The author’s poems have appeared in Calyx, Indiana Review, Many Mountains Moving and Nimrod International Journal, among other literary magazines. She teaches writing workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Describing her collection, Dumesnil explained, “The overarching theme of “In Praise of Falling” is encapsulated in the Zen proverb, ‘Fall down seven times, get up eight.’ The poems address the ways in which we fall — through disillusionment, disappointment or plain old-fashioned mistakes. And they address the ways we rise up — out of personal debacles, unfortunate circumstances, family legacies and collective struggles.”

This year’s Starrett prize judge was Ed Ochester, Pitt Poetry Series editor.

Established in 1981, the Starrett prize, named for the Press’s first director, carries a $5,000 award and publication in the Press’s poetry series.