Green Receives Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize Leah Naomi Green was recognized for her new poem, "Origin Story."

By Erica Turman
May 3, 2021

Leah Naomi Green, visiting assistant professor of English and environmental studies at Washington and Lee University, received a Treehouse Climate Action Poetry Prize from The Academy of American Poets for her poem “Origin Story.”

Established in 2019 with support from Treehouse Investments, the prize honors three poets. The award is presented to honor exceptional poems that help readers understand the significance of the environment’s vulnerable state. Green’s poem will also be published in the popular Poem-a-Day series distributed to 500,000 readers. Green’s poem may also be featured in the award-winning education series Teach This Poem, which serves 35,000 educators each week.

Of her poem, judges Camille T. Dungy and Katharine K. Wilkinson wrote, “The second stanza of ‘Origin Story’ won’t let us off the hook, reminding readers what is really at stake and what all this means, but at the same time, the poem rests in beauty and wonder and love and hope, teaching us to look and look again.”

Green’s first full-length poetry collection, “The More Extravagant Feast,” published in 2020, was selected by Li-Young Lee as the winner of the 2019 Walt Whitman Award, given by the Academy of American Poets. Her chapbook, “The Ones We Have,” received the 2012 Flying Trout Chapbook prize, and she is the recipient of the 2021 Lucille Clifton Legacy Award.

If you know a W&L faculty member who has done great, accolade-worthy things, tell us about them! Nominate them for an accolade.