UWF English professor recognized as award-winning author

February 20, 2018 | By: Mary Stucko | casshcommunications@uwf.edu

Jonathan Fink, UWF Department of English professor and director of creative writing, was recently awarded the Merit Award in Poetry for 2017. On Feb. 3, The Philosophical Society of Texas granted the award for his book “Barbarossa: The German Invasion of the Soviet Union and the Siege of Leningrad” (Dzanc, 2016)

The publication is Fink’s second book, apart his poetry collection, and was also a finalist for the Helen C. Smith Award for Best Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters.

“Barbarossa” consists of a collection of sonnets centered around Leningrad citizens during the first year of the siege during World War II.

In “Barbosa,” Fink has been described to, “...illuminate the tension, complexity, and singularity of one of most colossal operations of World War II, and the lives it transformed.”

Of his work, Roger Sedarat, author of “Ghazal Games” said, “Informed by research itself worth reading, this cinematic collection offers a lyrical recreation of World War II. These well-honed sonnets bring the reader to the razor’s edge of modern history.”

These well-honed sonnets bring the reader to the razor’s edge of modern history.

- Roger Sedarat

Fink received his bachelor’s degree in English from Trinity University and his master’s degree in poetry from Syracuse University, where he received awards from The Atlantic Monthly and Associated Writing Programs.

In addition to his role as professor and the director of creative writing at the University of West Florida, Fink also serves as an editor for Panhandler Magazine and Panhandler Books.

His poems have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, New England Review, TriQuarterly as well as many others.

Visit JonathanFink.com to learn more about his recent award-winning publication.