-via Poetry Northwest

The James Welch Prize reading is on Friday November 17th at Poets House in New York City.

The 2023 James Welch Prize Winners are Kalehua Kim and J.K. Tsosie.

Poetry Northwest’s James Welch Prize is awarded for two outstanding poems, each written by an Indigenous U.S. poet. The prize is named for Blackfeet and Gros Ventre writer James Welch, whose early poems were featured in Poetry Northwest and who went on to become one of the region’s most important writers.

Heid E. Erdrich is a writer from North Dakota who curates art exhibits, teaches, researches, and collaborates with other artists. She's Ojibwe, enrolled at Turtle Mountain. Her most recent book of poems is Little Big Bully.

ABOUT THE WINNERS…

J.K. Tsosie is Diné — Bitter Water Clan and born for the Many Goats Clan. He resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Tiwa Land) where he attends the UNM School of Medicine.

Kalehua Kim is a Native Hawaiian poet living in the Seattle area. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Denver Quarterly, Calyx, and ‘Ōiwi, A Native Hawaiian Journal.