Tejaswini (Teja) Sudhakar, a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) ’25 candidate at Indiana University’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been honored with the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award. This recognition comes from the Academy of American Poets. This prestigious recognition, established in 2013, honours a poet under 23 years old with a $1,000 cash prize and publication on the Poets.org website.
Born in Chennai, India, and raised partly in Lexington, Kentucky, Teja’s love for language was sparked by her middle school tutor, Carole Johnston, who made learning vocabulary fun through creative writing exercises. Teja credits this experience with unlocking her joy for wordplay and cathartic expression.
As an immigrant grappling with multiple languages, Teja found poetry to be a place where her identity and experiences were celebrated. Her passion for poetry grew as she discovered the power of documenting her unique journey.
Teja was surprised by the award, having initially submitted her work for Indiana University’s Vera Strube Meyer award, which she won. Unbeknownst to her, the Academy of American Poets automatically considered university prize winners under 23 for this national award.
Teja Sudhakar published her poetry collection Looking for Smoke in 2020 as part of her undergraduate thesis.
