Switchboard Shift by Kathleen Fagley of New Hampshire has been selected as the winner of the 2023 Concrete Wolf Chapbook Award.

Judge’s thoughts: Such a difficult decision with so many wonderful manuscripts. Ultimately, Switchboard Shift stood out for the uniqueness of its subject matter, the feeling of wholeness of the collection, and the way in which the poems elucidate the vulnerability not only of the one answering our medical phone calls but of all of us facing health-related and emotional crises.

Kathleen Fagley is a Pushcart-nominated poet whose chapbook, How You Came to Me, was published by Finishing Line Press in July 2012. Her work has appeared in The Stillwater Review, Memoir Journal, Cutthroat, Nimrod Journal and others. She taught poetry and creative nonfiction at Keene State College in Keene, NH from 2016 until 2020.