Issue: Summer 2014 | Posted: June 2, 2014

Old School

David Clark wins poetry prize

Union University alumnus David Clark (’05) recently won the Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize for his poems.

Clark, a Lilly Postdoctoral Fellow at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind., received the prize for a collection of poems titled Interview Conducted through the Man-Eater’s Throat. The poems are scheduled to be published in the spring of 2015.

At Union, Clark excelled in both poetry and fiction writing as an undergraduate, said Bobby Rogers, professor of English and writer in residence. In addition to serving on the staff of The Torch, Union’s literary magazine, Clark received the Helen Blythe Creative Writing Award, given each year to a graduating senior deemed to be the best creative writer.

“David was a voracious reader and thinker, and his writing reflected that he was keen in his observations but also careful in his thinking,” said Gene Fant, professor of English and chairman of the English department when Clark was a student at Union. “Awards like (David’s poetry prize) are a kind of external affirmation of the outstanding preparation students receive, positioning them for their calling as writers.”

Clark’s poems have been featured in a variety of publications, including Alaska Quarterly Review, Antioch Review and Yale Review. For more information about Clark’s writings, visit georgedavidclark.com.