SALLY VAN DOREN - RESIDENT POET AT GUNDLACH ELEMENTARY - RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS WALT WHITMAN AWARD
Publication of first book, $5,000 prize, residency at the Vermont Studio Center

St. Louis, MO, April 10 - On April 5, The Academy of American Poets has announced that local poet Sally Van Doren was selected as the recipient of the 2007 Walt Whitman Award-considered one of the most prestigious prizes for American poets. The award comes with a $5000 check, a professional residency at the Vermont Studio Center in rural Vermont and funds for the publication of a first book of poems.

Van Doren received the Award for her collection of poems Sex at Noon Taxes, which will be published in spring 2008, by Louisiana State University Press. The winning manuscript, whose title is a palindrome, was chosen from over 1,000 entries.

Van Doren is a teaching specialist in the Room for Writing at Gundlach Elementary School in the Saint Louis Public School (SLPS) system. In this unique program, Van Doren, along with other professional writers, are stationed throughout the week at the school, where they work with students at improving skills in all forms of literacy across the curriculum-oral communication, writing, listening, and reading. Room for Writing is a partnership with Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis, SLPS and the teachers and administrators at Gundlach Elementary.

Van Doren was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her poems have appeared in several journals, including Barrow Street, Boulevard, Cincinnati Review, Colorado Review, LIT, Margie, Parthenon West Review, Poetry Daily, and Pool. She is a graduate of Princeton University and received an M.F.A. from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She was a semi-finalist in the 2006 “Discovery”/ The Nation Poetry Contest. Her poem, “The Sense Series,” was the text for a multi-media performance at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis in February 2007. Van Doren also curates the Sunday Poetry Workshops for the St. Louis Poetry Center and divides her time between St. Louis and Cornwall, Connecticut.

Room For Writing was launched in 2006 through generous seed grants from Susan Rudin, board chairman of the Lincoln Center Institute for Arts in Education in New York City; and I.E. Millstone of the Millstone Foundation in St. Louis. The program is supervised by Springboard & Young Audiences.

Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide in-school arts, culture, humanities, math, and science programs to students throughout the St. Louis metro area. During the 2005-2006 school year, the nonprofit organization delivered more than 241,000 hours of programming to nearly 92,000 area children. The organization has a long commitment to providing programs to children in underserved schools.

Springboard to Learning & Young Audiences of St. Louis is the result of a 2006 merger, which brought together two organizations with a combined 89 years of service. The merged organization is the largest provider of in-school enrichment programs in the region, offering 190 unique programs in various formats-one-time performances, artist in-school residencies, and semester-long classes. More on the organization can be found at www.springboardtolearning.org