David Wolf, associate professor of English and department chair, has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his poem “Maneuvers.” This is not the first time that Wolf has had this poem acknowledged. It also appeared in “Appleseeds: an Anthology of Americana Poetry” published in October 2008.

“Appleseeds” is an anthology comprised of poetry from many voices about the American experience. Wolf first heard about the opportunity in an e-mail from a friend. He was able to send four or five poems to the publishers to consider for the anthology.

“I sent my work and was pleased to be accepted,” Wolf said.

Because of the publication in “Appleseeds,” Wolf is now nominated for the Pushcart Prize. The publishing press that printed “Appleseeds” nominated six pieces from the anthology to be considered for the Pushcart Prize.

The Pushcart Prize has been published every year since 1976, and it is the most honored literary project in America. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in the pages of their annual collections.

The Pushcart Prize is a prestigious accomplishment for new and established writers. Writers can be nominated several times and still not be chosen. If chosen, Wolf’s poem would be published in the 2010 edition of “The Pushcart Prize – Best of the Small Presses.”

“It would be a great honor to appear in the Pushcart,” Wolf said. “But being nominated is a great honor, too, for me.”

Although Wolf has been published in “Appleseeds” as well as anthologies of his own writing, he is modest about his work

“I took Literature and the Human Condition from him last year and we studied poetry,” sophomore Megan Berlin said. “He never once shared his own poetry.”

Wolf also got the chance to read his poem aloud to others in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Out of the Blue Gallery. He read with other poets from “Appleseeds” in celebration of the anthology’s publication.

The evening was a featured event in the Stone Soup Poetry Series. Founded by poet Jack Powers, the series celebrated its 36th year last May.

Wolf thinks that it is important to read poetry in front of people. He said he generally enjoys doing it.

“It’s nice to read in various venues,” Wolf said. “I was very pleased that the press was holding an event there.”

Wolf began writing poetry seriously in college. He links it up to his song writing from high school. He graduated from college as an English major and then moved to New York City to work for a publisher. He continued to write and tried to immerse himself in the New York literary scene. Wolf started to publish there and then decided to go to graduate school to get a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.

More information about Wolf’s nomination and poem can be found on the Simpson Wiki and the Simpson College Adventure page on Facebook. Marty Feeney, director of academic recruitment, is in charge of those sites.

“Faculty and staff send me Wiki material, photos, cool and interesting facts,” Feeney said. “I then load both the wiki and our Simpson College Adventure site on Facebook with those contributions.”

Following the Wiki, marketing and admissions use the contributions for brochures and publicity.