Julian Randall Receives Emerging Writer Award

Julian Randall won the Publishing Triangle’s Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, presented at the Triangle Awards ceremony, held on April 25, 2019, at the New School in New York City. This award goes to an LGBTQ writer who has published at least one book but not more than two.

In bestowing this award, the judges said, “Although still very early in his career, Julian Randall is already changing the form and accessibility of poetry. From a searing personal journey to find his place in the world, he forces us to assess our own standing, and, perhaps more important, ask the hard questions about the fabric of society itself.”

The recipient of a Pushcart Prize, Randall is originally from Chicago. He is a fellow of Cave Canem, Callaloo, BOAAT and the Watering Holes. His poetry has been published in The New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares and Poetry and anthologized in Bettering American Poetry, Nepantla, and Furious Flower. Randall holds an MFA in Poetry from Ole Miss. His first book, Refuse (University of Pittsburgh Press), won the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry.

Teresa DeCrescenzo, the widow of Betty Berzon, presented the award to Randall, who receives $1500.