National Book Awards 2025

The ladies break out the poetry crystal ball and predict the winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry.

Please Support Breaking Form!
Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.

Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.
James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.

Show Notes:

The 76th National Book Awards Ceremony will be streamed live on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 8:00 PM EST. You can watch the free livestream by registering on the National Book Foundation's website at nationalbook.org/awards. It will also be available on Facebook and YouTube. 

The poem we read of Calvocoressi's is "Praise House: The New Economy"; check out their website: https://www.gabriellecalvocoressi.com/ Read the poem by Ross Gay that Calvocoressi references: "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude"

 We talked about Cathy Linh Che on our show "(Taylor's Version)"; read the title poem  "Becoming Ghost." Visit Che's website: https://www.cathylinhche.com/

Tiana Clark maintains an online presence at https://www.tianaclark.com. Read "After the Reading" here. 

We interviewed Richard Siken in episode 12 of this season (season 3). "Flevato" is from I Do Know Some Things, though it was first published in Four Way Review. Visit Siken online at https://richard-siken.com. 

Read Patricia Smith's poem "70." And feel free to read more work on her website: https://www.wordwoman.ws/