An SIUC professor says she is pleased with winning an award from Purdue University for her collection of poems because of such a difficult publishing market for poetry.

Lucia Perillo, an SIUC creative writing professor who won the award, said in today’s market, books of poetry do not do well. Therefore, many poets have difficulty getting their work published.

Most people know poetry books don’t sell very well, Perillo said. These awards become the only mechanism poets can use to get published.

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Perillo won the Verna Emery Poetry Prize for her collection of poems dealing with topics such as sex, illness, rock climbing and female icons in culture.

Perillo said she was pleased to receive the award and have her book published.

I’d been sending the book out for about three years, she said. I was happy to be able to work with Purdue.

The collection titled, The Body Mutinies, contains about 50 poems. The book is scheduled to be published in March or April of 1996, Perillo said.

Perillo said she has been writing poetry for about 15 years. She has also written some unpublished fiction and some published nonfiction.

Perillo’s first book of poetry, Dangerous Life, won the Norma Faber Award in 1989. The award is given out to the best first book published by an auhor.

Perillo’s poetry has been published in various literary magazines and other publications including The Atlantic, and The Chronicle for Higher Education.

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