Liza Flum named winner of 2026 Nassar Poetry Prize

Utica Community
Utica Stories
Liza Flum named winner of 2026 Nassar Poetry Prize

The winner of this year’s Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize at Utica University is Liza Flum, with her book, Hover.

In Hover Flum explores love, reproductive choice, and infertility in queer polyamorous families, with a focus on hummingbirds as symbols of queer survival in a society which seeks to erase queer identity.

Liza Flum’s poetry has appeared in AGNI, Narrative, Meridian, Washington Square Review, Lambda Literary, and Zócalo Public Square. She is a recipient of a Barbara Deming artist grant, and her writing has been supported by fellowships from the Saltonstall Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, Aspen Summer Words, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. She holds an MFA in poetry from Cornell and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Utah. Hover is her first book.

The Nassar Poetry Prize is awarded to one Upstate New York poet for their published poetry collection. The poems must be written in English, and the book must be at least 48 pages long in order to qualify for the $3,000 prize. The annual contest is named in memory of Eugene Paul Nassar, professor emeritus of English at Utica University, who passed away in April of 2017 at the age of 81.

Liza Flum will read her poetry on Thursday, April 16 starting at 5:30 p.m. in Wilcox Center at Utica University.