We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2025 Ghostbird Press Birdhouse Chapbook Prize is Sonia Arora for her manuscript, Rewilding the Home and the World.

Sonia’s chapbook will be published this spring. Please stay tuned for details about a book launch and reading to be held here at Queens College!

Congratulations to Sonia on this wonderful accomplishment!

Sonia Arora has been teaching literature and humanities for almost 20 years. Her work as a teaching artist takes her into classrooms across Long Island, New York City and Philadelphia where she explores oral history, digital media, poetry, activism, and film-making with youth in elementary, middle and high schools. She has published short fiction, poetry and essays. Publications include: Apiary; Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching; Prompted, an anthology printed by Philadelphia Stories, 3-2-1 Contact, Sonic Boom, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Biostories, Lunch Ticket and more. Last year, one of her poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has studied writing with Frederic Tuten, Terrance Hayes, Porochista Khakpour, and Jenn Givhan. 

Ghostbird Press is a small, independent chapbook press that publishes collaborations of writing and visual art. Peter Vanderberg, a fellow QC MFA alum, offers the annual Birdhouse Prize to graduating QC MFA students, resulting in a gorgeous full-color chapbook for the winner.

Winning a chapbook prize with your thesis is only one of the great opportunities you get as a QC MFA student. Discover more on our Opportunities page!