From a classroom in Victoria to bookshelves around the world, the work of a local professor is preparing to reach a much wider audience.
Nadya Pittendrigh, associate professor of English at Texas A&M University–Victoria, has won the 2026 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize for her manuscript Laughter Without.
Pittendrigh’s manuscript was selected from 540 submissions and 15 finalists, according to the university. Guest judge and poet Mark Bibbins selected the winning collection, which includes 27 poems and a short play.
Laughter Without is expected to be published by Saturnalia Books in October 2027.
The award carries significance beyond the literary recognition itself. Saturnalia Books, an independent nonprofit poetry press founded in 2002, is distributed to the book trade by Independent Publishers Group (IPG).
Through IPG’s extensive distribution network, books from independent publishers can reach bookstores, libraries, online retailers and other outlets in the United States and international markets. That means a collection written by an educator in Victoria has a pathway to readers well beyond South Texas.
For Pittendrigh, the achievement is years in the making. Laughter Without began taking shape around 2020, when she participated in poetry workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic. The manuscript continued to develop over approximately six years.
Pittendrigh joined Texas A&M University–Victoria in 2016, bringing her experience as both a writer and scholar into the classroom.
Her latest accomplishment now connects those local roots to a much larger literary community.
When Laughter Without is published, Pittendrigh’s poetry will carry with it a connection to Victoria — demonstrating how creative work produced and nurtured locally can cross borders and find readers around the world.