Sahtu Press is pleased to announce that the poetry collection Before We Remember We Dream by Bryan Thao Worra has been nominated for a 2021 Elgin Award by the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.
The Elgin Awards, named for SFPA founder Suzette Haden Elgin, are presented annually for books published in the preceding two years in two categories, Chapbook and Book. Chapbooks are collections that contain 10-39 pages of poetry and books contain 40 or more pages of poetry. E-books are eligible, as well as print. This year’s Elgin Awards Chair was Jordan Hirsch. The 400+ members of the Science Fiction Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association will finalize their votes on September 15th with the final announcements expected by October 1st. In the full-length collection category, 64 books were nominated.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association was established in 1978 and has an international membership representing over 19 nations and cultures including United States, Italy, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, Poland, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Israel, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, the Hmong, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association publishes two journals: Star*Line and Eye to the Telescope. It oversees three major literary awards for poetry: The Rhyslings, the Dwarf Stars, and the Elgin Awards. Sahtu Press author Krysada Panusith Phounsiri received a Rhysling Award for poem of the year in 2016 for a poem that appeared in his debut collection Dance Among Elephants.
Before We Remember We Dream was published in 2020 and features interior art by Nor Sanavongsay and a cover by acclaimed Lao American artist Sisaanh Phouthavong Houghton. This is Thao Worra’s first collection published by a Lao American press in his 30-year journey as a writer. The 55-poem collection blends memoir and Southeast Asian history, myth, horror and science fiction goes from the banks of the Mekong River during the Secret War for Laos to unexpected intersections of Southeast Asian history in the small towns of America and Asian American history.