Julia Shipley is the 2014 winner of Bona Fide Books’ Melissa Lanitis Gregory poetry prize.

Shipley is the author of three poetry chapbooks. She is a two-time recipient of grants from the Vermont Community Foundation and the Vermont Arts Council and has also received fellowships from the Frost Place in New Hampshire the Center for Books Arts in New York City, and the Studios at Key West.

A born-again agrarian, she raises animals and vegetables on her 6-acre farm in northern Vermont.

The prize is named after Lanitis, a South Lake Tahoe artist who died in 2009. This award created by Bona Fide Books Publisher Kim Wyatt is in honor of her friend and to recognize the inspiration Lantis gave to so many others in pursuit of literary and artistic dreams.

Shipley’s collection of poetry titled “The Academy of Hay” will be published by Meyers-based Bona Fide Books in 2015.