Wheelbarrow Books Presents Thomas Lynch and Julia McConnell with Balocating Prize Announcement

Wed, April 1, 2026 7:00 PM at RCAH Theater, Snyder-Phillips Hall, 361 Physics Rd., East Lansing

 

The Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Series, established in 2016, is the publishing imprint of the RCAH Center for Poetry, with publication and distribution by MSU Press. 

Please join us as we welcome Julia McConnell, author of Landlocked, and special guest Thomas Lynch, who selected Landlocked as winner of the 2022 Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize and author of No Prisoners (Godine, 2025), and Bone Rosary: Selected Poems (Godine, 2021) among many others.

 

 

The evening will open with the announcement of the 2026 Annie Balocating Undergraduate Prize for Poetry by final judge Thomas Lynch.

 

Lynch and McConnell will the each read from their work, then join in a conversation lightly moderated by Wheelbarrow Books Series Editor and Center for Poetry Founding Director Anita Skeen.

A reception and book signing will follow in the LookOut Gallery, 2nd floor, Snyder Hall.

Public parking is free after 6 p.m. in lot 9 (located across Physics Rd. from Snyder-Phillips Hall) and in non-metered spaces and spaces unmarked by permit signs around Snyder-Phillips Hall. Click here to view a detailed map including accessible parking and entrances.

 

Julia McConnell is a poet and a librarian. Her manuscript Landlocked was selected by Thomas Lynch as the winner of the 2022 Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize (Emerging). Her chapbook, Against the Blue, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2016. Julia’s publications include Whale Road Review, Shark Reef, Right Hand Pointing, Plainsongs, Lavender Review, and other journals. Originally from Oklahoma, Julia lives in Seattle with her partner, her poodle, and her Jack Russell Terrier.

 

 

 

Thomas Lynch is the author of six books of essays, a book of short fiction and six books of poetry. He was a National Book Award finalist for The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade and is the recipient of the American Book Award, The Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, The Denise Levertov Award, The Great Lakes Book Award, and Michigan Authors Award. He has taught with the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, the Graduate Program in Writing at University of Michigan, and Mortuary Science at Wayne State University. He lives in Michigan, where he worked as a funeral director until his retirement, and in Ireland, where he keeps an ancestral home. His latest title, No Prisoners (Godine, 2025) is his first novel.