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2024 Stoker Award Nominees for Superior Achievement in Poetry

About Blog Post Apr 8, 2025

The 2024 Stoker Award Nominees for Superior Achievement in Poetry

Created by Bob Helmbrecht, collection development librarian

Looking for something a little different to read this year for National Poetry Month? Why not give some horror poetry a try?

There have always been poems with horrific elements. How many of us read Poe's "The Raven" in school? Now, however, horror poetry has grown into its own sub-genre of both poetry and horror literature, even having its own awards.

Perhaps the most prestigious of these is the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Poetry. This year's nominees were announced in February by the Horror Writers Association, and the 2024 Award winners will be announced on June 14th during the annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet held during StokerCon® 2025 in Stamford, Connecticut.

You can find all of the nominated books in the Library's catalog, so place your holds today!

  • "The Dark Between the Twilight" by Jamal Hodge (Crystal Lake Publishing).  A unique collection of memoir and speculative poems that takes the reader on an unforgettable exploration of the darkest and brightest fragments of a lonely but loving heart. It is an accounting of one man's soul through the power of the imagination. Through the redemption of his pain, Jamal Hodge invites us to turn from the shadows of the past and seek the light in our own lives.
  • "Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud" by Lee Murray (The Cuba Press). An audacious blend of biography, mythology, horror and poetry that transcends genre to illuminate lives in the shadowlands of our history.
  • "Imitation of Life" by L. Marie Wood (Falstaff Books). A collection of poetry by Award-Winning filmmaker and author L. Marie Wood, examining the darker side of everyday life.
  • "Melancholia: A Book of Dark Poetry" by Sumiko Saulson (Bludgeoned Girls Press). "Melancholia" will send you into worlds both beyond and within, opening your eyes to truths often left untold in this world and challenging you with the harsh realities and injustices of life, without abandoning the darkly comforting magic that can be found in the shadows.              
  • "Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future" by Pedro Iniguez (Space Cowboy Books). Weaving science-fiction, Mexican folklore, and magical realism, this 50-poem collection explores the wonders and pitfalls of humanity in a future yet to come. Experience a faraway world where sapient flora sing melodic tunes; behold orbit-plunging taco trucks as they make planetfall; observe as El Cucuy becomes a stowaway on a space shuttle; witness a neurologically-enhanced lobster become President of the United States; bear the agonizing wave of shrink-ray-gun violence plaguing public schools.
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