Poetry Collection by Beth SKMorris Named as a Finalist in the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards

In the Aftermath: 9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes chronicles the author’s experience as a 9/11 volunteer

Author Beth SKMorris’s book In the Aftermath: 9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes is a category finalist in the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. In the Aftermath is a journey through the author’s experience working at the WTC Ground Zero Relief Project, Spring Street Warehouse, procuring and delivering supplies to the first responders and recovery crews at Ground Zero clean-up and recovery sites.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, many people turned to poetry to express their grief and anger. However, few poets have been able to capture the experience of that fateful day as effectively as SKMorris. Her accessible poems explore a range of emotions, from nostalgia and hope to sadness and anger. And yet, despite the heavy subject matter, SKMorris’ poetry is also infused with a sense of optimism and resilience. As the US Review of Books noted, “This collection captures the immediate and distant aftermath of a tragedy still prominent in American minds.”

“It was an honor to be recognized among so many talented authors, and I am grateful to the judges for their consideration,” SKMorris said. “I had no idea I would ever write a book about my experience as a volunteer at the Ground Zero Relief Project, Spring Street Warehouse that secured and delivered supplies to the first responders and recovery crews at Ground Zero after 9/11, but when I returned to New York after a ten-year hiatus, memories of 9/11 and its aftermath flooded in. Putting In the Aftermath on paper was my way of coming to terms with this life-changing event and honoring the first responders, recovery crews, volunteers, and all those people impacted by the tragedy of 9/11, then and now.”

The Eric Hoffer Award is an annual award that honors small press titles published the previous year. Less than 10 percent of registrants are named as finalists. The Eric Hoffer Book Award honors the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer by highlighting salient writing, as well as the independent spirit of small publishers. Since its inception, Hoffer has become one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses.

SKMorris is also a recipient of the Pinnacle Award in Poetry, September 2021.

In the Aftermath is now included in the Library of Congress archive, The Poetry of 9/11. As a Ground Zero volunteer, Beth SKMorris will be participating in the 20th-anniversary commemoration of the completion of cleanup and recovery at Ground Zero at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum on May 30th, 2022.

In the Aftermath: 9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes is currently available on Amazon. For more information, visit https://bethsabard.info/home.html

About Beth SKMorris

“Bethsabard” began in 2010 with the publication of my first book of poetry, a chapbook called “IN FLORIDA.” Since then, I have published two full-length manuscripts- “NOWHERE TO BE FOUND” (2014) and, most recently, “IN THE AFTERMATH9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes,” published in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in 2021. “Bethsabard” is the result of my decision to leave academia and the corporate world to concentrate full-time on my writing.