Each year the NFSPS publishes an anthology containing the prize-winning poems of the fifty contests held in the spring (Deadline: March 15). This book is presented to each person who attends the national convention in the year of its publication, but the books are also available to other members of NFSPS and to the general public. There are also some copies of the books published in previous years available. To order prize poems anthologies, make a check payable to NFSPS and send it to Valerie Bailey, 2207 Parhaven Drive, San Antonio, TX 78232.   Add to the price of the book/s mailing costs of $2.50 for one book and add $.75 for each additional book. Here are the books that are available:

Edited by Valerie Martin Bailey. San Antonio, TX: NFSPS, 2004. Biggest prizewinner in the book was "Sunday in the House He Left" by Anne McCrady (Henderson, TX). This anthology is available for $10.00 plus postage.

Edited by Joseph Shaffer. Benton Harbor, MI: Patterson Printing, 1998. Biggest prizewinner in the book was "The Kitchen in Blue" by Marilyn Darley Williams (Sandy, UT). This anthology is available for $2.00 plus postage.
 

Edited by Joseph Shaffer. Versailles, KY: Versailles Printing, 1996. Biggest prizewinner in the book was "Sobriety" by Pat Underwood (Colfax, IA). This anthology is available for $2.00 plus postage.
 

for the prices listed.  Add to the price of the book/s mailing costs of $1.50 for one or two books and add $.50 for each 2 additional books.  Make checks payable to NFSPS.  Here are the books that are available:
 

Lawson Fusao Inada said of this book, "Harvest is a compelling volume of authentic verse.  Each poem is rooted in the land. . . . The harvest is a blessing and a revelation."
 

Peter Meinke calls this book "more than a collection of poems. This is a complete book with a mature vision expressed with passion, wit, and lyrical intensity." He adds that the poems in the book are "clear-eyed and generous."
 

Although Eleanor Swanson's book centers on the life and work of Madame Curie, the relevance of this cycle of poems to issues of our time is clear. Ellen Bass finds Swanson's graceful poems urgently applicable to us because of Curie's "fierce devotion to science" regardless of "unforseeable consequences." Roald Hoffman calls this collection "touching," capable of moving readers to feel for and with Curie, who comes alive in these poems.
 

For a review of this book, see Strophes Online, January 2004 issue.
 

SINGING IN THE KEY OF L by Barbara Nightingale 
(Rochester Hills, MI: NFSPS Press, 1999), $3.00 plus postage

Of this book which won the Stevens Manuscript Competition for 1999, Lola Haskins wrote, "In this stunning collection, Nightingale succeeds in doing what poets are supposed to do.  She assimilates the data of the physical world and transmits it into higher realms of awareness. . . . We recognize her truth, and it illuminates our own experience."
 

WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES by Alan Birkelbach 
(Austin, TX: Plainview Press), $3.00 plus postage

 Margo LaGattuta said of this poet, winner of the Stevens Manuscript Competition for 1998: "A unique and original voice, Birkelbach invites us into his world of surprises.  He balances the unexpected with the everyday, questioning with revelation.  His wit and wisdom shine through these poems."
 

SHADOWLESS FLIGHT by Todd Palmer 
(Deerfield, IL: Lake Shore Publishing,1997), $3.00 plus postage

 Todd Palmer, whose poems won the Stevens Manuscript Competition for 1997, was called by Anne Marx "a contemporary voice dealing with ageless themes," and Marx went on to say, "His virtue, in contrast to authors of similar settings, is clearness rather than obscurity, a steady illumination rather than fireworks. He knows what is real and his poetry is nourished by such knowledge."
 

I HAVE LEARNED FIVE THINGS by Elaine Christensen 
(Deerfield, IL: Lake Shore Publishing, 1996), $3.00 plus postage

 Of Elaine Christensen, poet whose work won the Stevens Manuscript Competition for 1996, Michael Dennis Browne wrote, "This poet speaks to us, with natural fluency and sureness of tone, from the center of a vigorously lived life full humanity, her frailties and strengths inextricably combined.  It's a joy to discover these stirring poems."
 

David Baker says of Kathryn Clement's A Common Language, "The craft of these poems--their tight lines and right stanzas--seems unforced and natural . . . . Kathryn has woven for us a delicate but durable cloth for the cold days ahead."

N. Colwell Snell
P. O. Box 520698
Salt Lake City,  UT 84152-0698

FIGHTING NATURE
by Hannah New

SEDIMENTS
by Mirra Evans

NIGHT IS A GOOD CHILD
by David Krump

SALIDA LA MARIPOSA 
by Michelle J. Martinez
(Currently out of print)

CROSSING
by Garth Greenwell

AND IT WILL BE EDEN 
by Joan Malerba-Foran

FROM THE PROVINCE OF GRATITUDE
by Ilya Kaminsky

WHITE CLIFFS
by Cynthia J. Webecke

SO BRIEF A FIELD
by Caroline J. Pittman

SELAH
by Joseph A. Fitzpatrick

MORNING BREAD
by Deborah Mallett Spanich

THE LITANY OF FAREWELLS
by Amy Motlagh

LEAPING FROM THE BOTTOM STEP
by Jodi Mancastraoppa

PEOPLE THESE ARE ROOTS
by Christopher Arigo

BEARING WITNESS
by Mary E. Bryant