ST PETER —
Gustavus Adolphus College’s Matt Rasmussen has been named the winner of the 2012 Walt Whitman Award by the Academy of American Poets.
Rasmussen is a 1998 graduate who is currently serving as visiting instructor in the English department.
The Walt Whitman Award is given out annually to an American poet who has yet to publish a book of poetry, and it is one of the most prestigious first book prizes in the country. Poet Jane Hirshfield was the judge who selected Rasmussen's manuscript “Black Aperture” as this year’s winner.
With the award, Rasmussen also receives a $5,000 cash prize, a one-month residency at the Vermont Studio Center, and will have his book of poems, “Black Aperture,” published by Louisiana State University Press.
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