The Kenneth and Geraldine Gell Poetry Prize is awarded annually by Writers & Books for an outstanding unpublished book-length collection of poetry. The poet will receive an honorarium of $1000, publication of the collection (in paperback, in the fall following the award, with Big Pencil Press), and a two-week fellowship at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes.

The 2009 Judge is Lola Haskins, who teaches poetry in Pacific Lutheran University’s low residency MFA program. Her most recent books are Not Feathers Yet: A Beginners Guide to the Poetic Life (Backwaters Press), Solutions Beginning with A (Modernbook), and Desire Lines: New and Selected Poems (BOA Editions).

The Gell Prize is named after Kenneth and Geraldine Gell of Rochester NY. Dr, Gell earned his doctorate in History and spent his entire career teaching in the Rochester City School District. Beginning in 1929, the Gells spent two and a half years searching for an ideal location to build a vacation and retirement home. They finally discovered it on a beautiful, secluded 24-acre parcel in the Bristol Hills situated in the Finger Lakes region of central New York. The breathtaking views, wildflowers and animal life were a wonderful contrast to their hectic life in Rochester, 35 miles away. They named their house "The Beagle," after the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his voyages.

Dr. Gell was a man of diverse interests, with a passion for the arts and education. After retiring, the Gells, discussed ways in which their dream home might be used to benefit others. They wanted the spirit of creativity and the quest for learning to continue on when they could no longer live here. In 1988 Dr. and Mrs. Gell donated their home and property to Writers & Books of Rochester. Today, The Gell Center serves as a writer’s retreat, conference center and annex for the classes and programs offered by Writers & Books. The Gell Center continues the mission of nurturing lifelong learning and respect for nature that were essential values in the lives of Dr. and Mrs. Gell.

The 2008 Gell Prize judge was Carl Dennis, an internationally recognized American poet and educator. In 2002 Mr. Dennis’s book Practical Gods, won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Dennis attended Oberlin College and the University of Chicago prior to receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1961. In 1966, Dennis received his Ph.D. in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley. That same year, he became an assistant professor of English at the University at Buffalo, where he has spent most of his career. In 2002, he became an artist-in-residence at the school Dennis has also served on the faculty of the graduate program at Warren Wilson College.

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Dennis has received other notable awards for his poetry, including a Fellowship at the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, Italy; a Guggenheim Fellowship (1984); a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry (1988), and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2000).

Founded in 1981, Writers & Books is one of the oldest and largest community-based literary centers in the United States.  The organization was founded on the principle that the written and spoken word are central to our lives and culture. Writers & Books’ mission is to promote reading and writing as life-long activities for people of every age, background and means.