Laureate's Pick Adapted for Screen

    SAN JOSE, CA, March 03, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Cogswell College today announces the premiere of a short animation adapted from poetry chosen by 2015-2017 U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, the 2016-2017 COG Poetry Awards final judge. "Winner Megan Merchant's poetry has the sudden fall into dream, tenderness, awakenings and delicate and crystalline images - the tone and lines are just right and seem to be in the language of a forest at night and the unseen eye in the wave," Herrera says. Merchant's poem was adapted by students in Cogswell's award-winning Digital Art & Animation and Digital Audio Technology programs.

Also today, Library of Congress and NEA honoree Major Jackson announces Jasminne Mendez as the 2017-2018 COG Poetry Awards winner. Mendez's work will be adapted for the screen over the course of one year. Jackson, who succeeded Herrera as final judge, selected her poetry set "Run, Irelia, Run," written in remembrance of victims of the Haitian Massacre of 1937. It is estimated that anywhere from 12,000-30,000 Haitians were slain that year in Dajabon, Dominican Republic - and Mendez says, "as a Dominican, I am very passionate about amplifying the voices of this experience."

COG's competitions and general submissions draw entries from nearly all U.S. states, as well as 24 more countries including Zimbabwe, Sweden, England, Israel, Dubai, France, India, Canada, Mauritius, Indonesia and Singapore.

"We're a new type of college literary journal for a new type of reader," said Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, COG's founding editor and chair of English and Humanities at Cogswell College. "But one thing hasn't changed. Strong storytelling is an underpinning. It bolsters our videos and audio show as well as the stories, poems, essay and interviews. We're proud of our students' work -- and we congratulate Jasminne Mendez." At the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference, which draws upwards of 12, 000 attendees, Frazier and her students will present on how marrying literature with technology has allowed their journal to enter the international literary conversation.

The animated short of Megan Merchant's "Lullaby" can be found at http://www.cogzine.com, along with a quirky video interview with former COG contest judge Daniel Handler, who provides advice for aspiring writers looking to get published.

The 2018-19 COG Page to Screen Awards is open for entries all month.

About Cogswell College
Designed as a "fiercely collaborative, digital laboratory," Cogswell College is a top ranked game development and digital arts college located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Working with industry leaders, students bring games and animation to life, while earning fully accredited degrees.

Cogswell is ranked among the top 25 game design schools in North America by The Princeton Review.

# # #

Media Contact:
Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
Chair, English and Humanities
Cogswell College
(408) 498-5144
[email protected]

# # #