The Medal Provocateur

Montaigne Medal Winner
Eric Hoffer Book Award Gold Seal © The Eric Hoffer Project

Each year, the Eric Hoffer Award, presents the Medal Provocateur to the best on the frontier of poetry—the experimental, the innovative, the daring and stunning, the impromptu in technique and voice. The medal is represented by the enduring grace of the dahlia flower, symbolizing inner strength, creativity, and change. This is an additional distinction beneath the Eric Hoffer Award umbrella.

"The passionate pursuer has all the earmarks of a fugitive.
...without the discipline of the creative effort
the affluent society will be without stability.
It might have to become a creative society in order to survive."

-Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind

Upon registering for the Eric Hoffer Award Poetry Category, a book is automatically considered for the Medal Provocateur. In the spring, the Medal Provacateur finalists are announced. The Medal Provocateur was introduced in 2021. Recipients can be viewed below. Detailed coverage of current winners can be found in the US Review of Books.

 

2024

* The Devil's Workshop, Xavier Cavazos, Cleveland State University Poetry Center

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2023

* Of the Florids, Shawn Hoo, Diode Editions

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2022

* Cutlish, Rajiv Mojabir, Four Way Books

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2021

* Inheritance, Taylor Johnson, Alice James Books

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