There are voices that rise from grief, resistance, hope, resilience, love, identity, and transformation. And there are poems that remind us that a woman’s voice, wherever she comes from, can travel far beyond borders.
“Still I Rise: Voices of Women from Around the World” was created to celebrate those voices.
A Celebration of Women’s Voices
The Still I Rise project has always been more than a poetry contest. It is a celebration of the many ways women experience, survive, question, resist, dream, and rise.
The poems submitted to this contest carried deeply personal experiences while also speaking to universal realities. They explored womanhood in its many forms — the visible and invisible struggles, the quiet victories, the wounds carried across generations, and the strength found in reclaiming one’s voice.
From the longlisted poets, 35 of the best poems were selected for the print Poetry Special Issue, Still I Rise: Voices of Women from Around the World, published in collaboration with Quillkeepers Press.
The print edition brings together these diverse poetic voices in one collection — a lasting record of the extraordinary range and depth of women’s writing represented in this project.
From 35 Poems to 10 Finalists
Following the publication of the longlist anthology, the competition entered its next stage. We announced 10 shortlisted poets, each of whom had distinguished their work through its voice, craft, emotional resonance, originality, and ability to leave an impression on the reader.
And Now, The Final Ranking
The moment has arrived to recognise the poets whose work rose to the top in the final evaluation.
1st Place — Anyrah Shavéh
Poem: Baby Boomers Didn’t Have the Language for Depression
Anyrah Shavéh is an award-winning poet, teaching artist, and cultural worker. She is an MFA student in Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. Her work explores healing, identity, womanhood, and generational memory using poetry as both advocacy and sanctuary. She empowers artists through bi-monthly showcases and educational programming. Anyrah meets every room with intention, warmth, and a voice that lingers long after the last word.
2nd Place — Adeleh Zahedi
Poem: Her Name
AdelehZahedi has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and is a PhD student in psychology. She believes that story and poetry in any medium give her the opportunity to experience a new life.
3rd Place — Dr. Anamika Nath
Poem: The Certificates
Dr. Anamika Nath is a forensic medicine specialist, researcher, award-winning poet, and writer whose work explores memory, loss, resilience, and the hidden stories within ordinary lives.
4th Place — Karen Nielsen
Poem: How girls grow up to be unafraid of bears
Karen Nielsen is a physician and multidisciplinary artist in NYC. Her albums have topped the college music charts. Her artwork has shown at the Watermill Center, Pop International Galleries and others, and her poetry and visual work has appeared in I Am Not A Size Magazine, Abstract Magazine and more.
5th Place — Leonora O’Brien
Poem: The Rape of Greenland
Leonora O’Brien is an Irish poet whose work examines human connection, social injustice, and the natural world. Her poems have appeared in publications such as Poetry Planetariat by the World Poetry Movement, the Dark Poets Club and Poets for Science.
6th Place — L.L. Hannah
Poem: A Shadow of Leaves
L.L. Hannah writes about nature, gender, and complex trauma from an ecofeminist perspective, highlighting the importance of environmental stewardship and recognition of C-PTSD. Their poetry was nominated for the Best of the Net’s 2027 Anthology, with poems available or forthcoming in Orangepeel Lit Mag, Cosmic Daffodil Journal, and elsewhere.
7th Place — Namkeen Peshawri
Poem: Red Bangles at Midnight”
Namkeen Peshawri is a Khwaja Sira poet, artist, and human rights advocate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Her work explores gender diversity, faith, belonging, resilience, and social justice. Through poetry, she amplifies marginalized voices and documents the lived experiences of transgender communities in Pakistan.
What our esteemed judge, Sandee Gertz, has to say about the contest and the winning poems :
“What an honor it was to be entrusted with these beautiful, bold, and fragile poems. I was taken aback and humbled by their compelling narratives and lyrical verses, and at how truly honest and raw they were, while also adhering to fine poetic craft and with such resonant voices…
These are gripping poems about strong women, rape, families, the folly of some men, fear, abuse, discrimination, atrocities, and the elements of what make women persevere and truly “rise” again and again. While it was enormously difficult (if not impossible) to attempt to rank these works, the Number 1 poem, “Baby Boomers Didn’t Have the Language for Depression” by Anyrah Shaveh is a fine gem that reveals itself slowly. Within it, Shaveh beautifully and subtly weaves a spell, depicting a history of women that seems deeply felt by the author and which displays, through imagery and scene, the ways in which depression and other themes of women were “whisked away” or dealt with via food and laboring. The way in which the poem carries the metaphor of baking and cooking, along with the unknown female family members, was deftly done. Personally, it quite reminded me of the way my own mother, when she was living, would mumble weary words under her breath while cooking or toiling over domestic tasks. I am sure many of us have heard our mothers or grandmothers speaking truths while holding a spatula or opening an oven. In fact, it is the last lines and last stanza of the poem that put this work over the top for me: “until she could taste Georgia/poured her mother’s smile into the round aluminum pan/and slid her memorabilia /into the oven’s mouth.” There were many exquisite poems in this batch, and yet it is an ending that is truly satisfying (to me, anyway) that really lands a poem’s message and resonance.
Other notable remarks I would have about how much I enjoyed these poems would include the sheer originality of “The Certificates” by Dr. Anamika Nath and how she was able to expertly weave in the interior world’s of the women lost via imagination. One can truly “see” the deceased women “coaxing a flame from damp firewood” or “carrying a fever through the kitchen….” until they become alive again. I was struck by this poem and all it accomplished and said. I felt that Number 2 and 3 were equal and I could barely bring myself to assign either of these over the other.
Which brings me to “Her Name” by Adeleh Zahedi. I gave her the nod for Number 2 based on an intangible voice and feel to the flow of the poem, as well as the gripping subject matter. This poem truly seemed to be speaking not just personally but also for generations of females who had to “be less” and “laugh more quietly” and who needed men to sign contracts for them, historically. Lines I loved the most in “Her Name” are “No one speaks/ about what silence becomes/inside the body./ No one asks/where swallowed songs go./Maybe the throat./ Maybe somewhere deeper,/near the womb…..” I also love the turn in this poem toward the end where her unique voice continues to shine with “My friend swore/when she was angry./ Not elegantly,/ Sharp, unashamed curses./ I loved her for that./ One night on the phone/ she said: “We worked for months–/months –/ and suddenly/ he’s the artist.” Wow.
Continuing, a real favorite of mine was Number 4: “How girls grow up to be unafraid of bears” by Karen Nielson. This is a poem after my heart with its lush and expansive lines, so full of earthy goodness and a fresh voice that doesn’t quit. This poem is written in a style that is familiar to me, being from a working class industrial town, and I could swear I know these people and have seen these sights. It is full of such accurate and specific imagery that one goes on a ride taking it all in. The juxtaposition used throughout is also delightful and very effective. All in all, a genius way to catalogue all the worries a woman must face, and it’s done in a way that is delightful in sound and craft — giving us the punch to the gut at the end.
I also found “The Rape of Greenland” by Leonora O’Brien to be so starkly gripping and sad. The direct and powerful language and the specificity in this poem also rocked me while reading it. The footnote adds historic gravity and ponderance as well. It’s important to document these atrocities as witnesses and this poem has done that superbly.
“A Shadow of Leaves“ by L.L. Hannah, is truly innovative in form and completely matches the content of a “split girl” as a result of terrible abuse. It is hard to read and stays with the reader long after the poem ends. Truly a great deal of craft here.
And rounding out the poems is the subtle, yet powerful “Red Bangles at Midnight“ by Namkeen Peshawri. What an imaginative persona poem that allows us to peer into the inner world of a woman scorned for her sins, in which many in the community also partake. It asks us not to judge, and seems to beg the question as to who and what is invisible in this scenario, the red bangles being the only applause the speaker hears.
And I cannot exit the judging process without mentioning the two Honorable Mention poems: “Map to Perimenopause” by Tanja Lau — just adored this one and that last line! And “Vacation” by Aida Zilelian also really landed with those last lines as well and was wonderful overall. I so wish I could go on and on to include more poems as they are all truly deserving.
– Sandee Gertz, author, poet, editor and the judge of ‘Still I Rise’ Contest
A Collaboration Across Literary Communities
Still I Rise was made possible through a meaningful collaboration between The Hemlock Journal, Quillkeepers Press, and Sandee Gertz.
Quillkeepers Press brought the poems to print, publishing the Still I Rise: Voices of Women from Around the World poetry issue featuring 35 of the best longlisted poems.
We are more than grateful to Sandee Gertz, for her involvement in this literary initiative and for helping bring together a project dedicated to amplifying women’s poetic voices.
Sandee Gertz is a poet, author of The Pattern Maker’s Daughter, a poetry collection published by Bottom Dog Press, and Assistant Professor at Cumberland University, as well as Managing Editor at Novus Lit Journal. She has been recognized as one of 16 Working Class Poets in World Literature Today, is a Sandburg-Livesay Poetry Award winner, and a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Fellowship recipient for Poetry. Her most recent award is the Mary Jean Irion Prize in Poetry. She has completed a memoir manuscript chronicling a coming of age with an atypical seizure disorder and has recently finished a novel for which she has secured representation with the D4EO Literary Agency. Sandee teaches Creative Writing at Cumberland University as an Associate Professor and is the Managing Editor of Novus Literary Arts Journal and the Poetry Editor for New Square. Each summer, she co-teaches a poetry workshop with the Sancho Panza Literary Society in Dublin, Ireland. Know more: https://sandeegertz.com/
About Quillkeepers Press
Quillkeepers Press is a traditional publishing company and indie/self-publishing consulting group. They offer traditional publishing as well as anthology collaboration opportunities for indie artists who are seeking publication. Their traditional publishing services are industry-standard, where we assume the financial liability of publishing your work, and you receive competitive royalties from the sales of your collection. We design a contract to fit your individual needs, as we know all artists are unique. Traditional publishing with Quillkeepers will include coaching, editing, formatting, cover design, and extended marketing. Know more: https://www.quillkeeperspress.com/
Collaborations such as these remind us of what can happen when literary communities come together with a shared purpose: to discover writers, create platforms, and give meaningful work the audience it deserves.
Congratulations to Our Winners and everyone who participated in the contest to come out and raise a voice through art & poetry.
Here’s to the women who write, the women who speak, the women who remember, the women who resist, and the women who rise.
Still we rise.
Did you miss participating in Still I Rise Poetry Contest and sending your work for Issue 11(Summer 2026) and One Sentence Story Contest ? Don’t worry! We always have more for you! We are opening submissions for Longer Story (7,000-15,000 words for solo Novelette Publication) on September 15th and Issue 12 (Winter 2026-27) on October 15th.
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