Zahra Gordon, a member of The University of Baltimore's Class of 2026 in the MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts program, earned this year's Plork Prize, as voted by the MFA faculty.
"This year's MFA thesis cohort displayed key elements of what we in the MFA call 'plorking'—playing, working, creating with abandon, helping others with joy," said Prof. Betsy Boyd, director of the program. "The plork ethic is the heart of our program. Faculty were especially impressed by this class's easygoing teamwork to bring about the annual MFA Reading and Book Festival, with Plork Coordinators John Guchemand and Alicia Potee leading the process."
All graduating MFA in CWPA students are eligible for this annual award.
Zahra Gordon, a poet, worked closely with Professors Steven Leyva, Marion Winik, and Andrew Klein during her thesis year.
"What does it look like to live in a red-lined community in Baltimore?" Gordon asks her readers on the back cover of her thesis book, Butterfly Praxis. As her bio details, "[She] is a Caribbean poet and writer. Her work has been published in journals such as Intersect, Mantis, and the anthology Thicker than Water (Peekash Press)."
"Zahra's book concept, growing out of her reading of Lawrence Brown's Black Butterfly, expressed both her personality and the essence of Baltimore with creativity, intelligence, and a mixture of whimsy and poignancy," Prof. Winik said. "Her cover is one of the most memorable in program history."
Butterfly Praxis’s cover features a black-and-white portrait of Gordon, wearing a fur coat and a serious expression, riding a city bus. In what Boyd called "a highly Plorky turn," the author asked Kearra Amaya Gopee to do a photo shoot precisely with the cover in mind. A color photo on the back depicts Zahra and her precocious young son, who visited MFA classes and made many friends among the professors and student along the way.
"Zahra's book is a shining culmination of patience, intention, and love. It is a joyful and powerful experience from cover to cover, and it was a privilege to watch her aesthetic unfold as it did," said Prof. Klein, who taught thesis design this spring alongside Prof. Tony Frye.
"Zahra is a poet of patient observation, lyrical attention, and living language," adds Prof. Leyva. "Her poems arrive on the page both unexpectedly and inevitably, like an early bus when you thought everything was running late."
At the annual book fair, to add a little more Plork, Gordon handed out sleek bus passes she'd designed that doubled as publicity materials for her book.
In recognition of her Plork Prize, Gordon will receive a $500 stipend.
"We wish Zahra congratulations and excellent plorking to come!" Boyd said.
Learn more about The University of Baltimore's MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts.
Applications to the program are accepted on a rolling basis.