Allison Benis White's Poetry Collection Nominated for 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize

“I’m thrilled to be included in this list of astonishing writers and their books,” said White, who teaches creative writing at UC Riverside. She expressed gratitude for the recognition, noting that opportunities to celebrate contemporary poetry are rare.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes recognize works across various categories, including poetry, fiction, and biography. Notably, a novel by White’s colleague at UCR, Tod Goldberg, is also nominated in the fiction category. The winners will be announced on April 17 at a ceremony held at the University of Southern California.

The publisher describes “A Magnificent Loneliness” as “ethereal, airy, and spare,” presenting a dialogue with ghosts. White's work is characterized as an ekphrastic and epistolary account of her solitary journey through loss.

White is also the author of four previous poetry books, including “Please Bury Me in This,” which won the 2018 Rilke Prize, and “Small Porcelain Head,” the recipient of the 2011 Levis Prize in Poetry. This latter work was a finalist for both the PEN Center USA Literary Award and the California Book Award. Additionally, her poems have been featured in notable publications such as The American Poetry Review, New England Review, and Ploughshares, as well as in the anthologies “Pushcart Prize XLI” and “Pushcart Prize: XLVII.”