We held the awards event of the 2018 Reuben Rose Poetry Competition on May 16, 2019 at Mercaz Avivim near Tel Aviv University. The evening was conducted by our President, Susan Olsburgh, with her usual flair, and by the long-term administrator of the competition, Mark Levinson, who gave us a short overview of this year’s entries and results.
The highlight of the evening, as always, was the poetry readings of the winning poems by the poets. The first prize winner, John Gallas of the UK, didn’t manage to get here, much to his and our regret; but sent us a lovely recording of himself reading his prize-winning poem:
He also sent us an acceptance letter which explains the intriguing background to writing his beautiful poem, and exemplifies the way in which poetic Truth may have little to do with What Really Happened.
Our two Israeli prize-winners and three Israeli winners of Honourable Mentions read their poems themselves, while the poems of those who live abroad were beautifully read by Israeli proxy readers.
The full list of winners and Honorable Mentions recipients, and audio recordings of the three winners and one of the Honourable Mention poets reading their poems, are on the 2018 Reuben Rose Competition page, where there is also a link to the texts of the poems (PDF file). The page is also accessible from the list of winning poems year by year on the Winners and Poem Texts page. (Please note that there are slight discrepancies between the written text of John Gallas’s poem, which is the text he submitted, and the audio recording he made for us after winning).
we ended the evening, as usual, with an Open Mic at which several of our members read one of their own poems. Regretfully we have no photos of the event.
Voices Israel Group of Poets in English 