On Christopher Cessac’s “Republic Sublime”

Winner of the 2002 Kenyon Review Prize in Poetry  

Two years ago The Kenyon Review entered into a relationship with a new independent book publisher, Zoo Press, located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Neil Azevedo, Zoo’s founding editor, invited us to cosponsor a first-book award to be called the Kenyon Review Prize in Poetry. Given our ongoing interest in emerging writers, the prospect of selecting, publishing, and supporting a new poet in this way appealed to us. As poetry editor of this magazine, I assumed the annual role of judge of the KR/Zoo Poetry Prize. We salute and encourage Zoo Press’s vision and vigor. Indeed, Zoo also now conducts the Paris Review Prize (for poetry), the Parnassus Prize (for critical writing), and aspires each year to publish several other books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama.