2013 Sentence of the Year Award
“Speaking as an irrelevant atom of fleeting may-fly consciousness on a dust-mote planet amid countless planets in a forgotten corner of an overlooked galaxy amid billions of such random aggregations of violent fire in a chaotic cosmos, I hope I have a few decades left before my loosely cooperating atoms dissolve their partnership and erase my memories and awareness and return to the earth to fuel dandelions and robins’ eggs, because I’m enjoying myself.”
— Michael Sims (no relation to our editor)
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Since 1998, Michael Simms has led the Autumn House community in building one of the most influential independent literary organizations in the country. Currently serving as Editor-in-Chief, he coordinates the selection, editing, design, manufacture, and marketing of our publications. He is the author of five collections of poetry: Black Stone, The Happiness of Animals, The Fire-eater, Migration, and Notes on Continuing Light, as well as essays and reviews in The Southwest Review, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and the Dallas Morning News. Simms lives with his wife Eva and their two children in the historic Mount Washington neighborhood overlooking downtown Pittsburgh and the Monongahela River.