List of winners of the Walt Whitman Award

The Walt Whitman Award is a poetry award administered by the Academy of American Poets.[1][2][3][4] Named after poet Walt Whitman, the award is based on a competition of book-length poetry manuscripts by American poets who have not yet published a book.[5] It has been described as "a transformative honor that includes publication and distribution of the book though the Academy, $5,000 in cash and an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in the Umbrian region of Italy. The Library of Congress includes the Award among distinctions noted for poets,[6] as does The New York Times, which also occasionally publishes articles about new awards.[7]

The Walt Whitman Award
Awarded forEncourage the work of emerging poets and to enable the publication of a poet’s first book
CountryUnited States
Presented byAcademy of American Poets
First awarded1975
Websitepoets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/walt-whitman-award

The award was established in 1975. In a New York Times opinion piece from 1985, the novelist John Barth noted that 1475 manuscripts had been entered into one of the Whitman Award competitions, which exceeded the number of subscribers to some poetry journals.[8] Since 1992, Louisiana State University Press has published each volume as part of its "Walt Whitman Award Series";[9] the Academy purchases and distributes copies to its associate members, along with copies of the winning volume for the James Laughlin Award.[10] Since the academy buys 6,000 copies for its members, and the average print run for a poet's first book is 3,000 copies, a Whitman Award guarantees a best seller in the tiny poetry market.[11]

Recipients

YearPoetBookJudge
2020Threa AlmontaserThe Wild Fox of Yemen (Graywolf Press)Harryette Mullen
2019Leah Naomi GreenThe More Extravagent Feast (Graywolf Press)Li-Young Lee [12]
2018Emily SkajaBrute (Graywolf Press)Joy Harjo
2017Jenny XieEye Level (Graywolf Press)Juan Felipe Herrera
2016Mai Der VangAfterland (Graywolf Press)Carolyn Forché
2015Sjohnna McCrayRapture (Graywolf Press)Tracy K. Smith
2014Hannah Sanghee Park [13]The Same-Different (LSU Press)Rae Armantrout
2013Chris HoseaPut Your Hands In (LSU Press)John Ashbery
2012Matt RasmussenBlack Aperture (LSU Press)Jane Hirshfield
2011Elana Bell [14]Eyes, Stones (LSU Press)Fanny Howe
2010Carl AdamshickCurses and Wishes (LSU Press)Marvin Bell
2009J. Michael Martinez [15]Heredities (LSU Press)[16] Juan Felipe Herrera
2008Jonathan Thirkield [17]The Waker's Corridor (LSU Press)Linda Bierds
2007Sally Van Doren [18]Sex at Noon Taxes (LSU Press)August Kleinzahler
2006Anne Pierson Wiese[19]Floating City (LSU Press)Kay Ryan
2005Mary Rose O'ReilleyHalf Wild (LSU Press)Mary Oliver
2004Geri DoranResin (LSU Press)Henri Cole
2003Tony TostInvisible Bride (LSU Press)Carolyn D. Wright
2002Sue Kwock Kim[20]Notes from the Divided Country (LSU Press)Yusef Komunyakaa
2001John CanadayThe Invisible World (LSU Press)Sherod Santos
2000Ben DollerRadio, Radio (LSU Press)Susan Howe
1999Judy JordanCarolina Ghost Woods (LSU Press)James Tate
1998Jan Heller LeviOnce I Gazed at You in Wonder (LSU Press)Alice Fulton
1997Barbara RasBite Every Sorrow (LSU Press)C. K. Williams
1996Joshua CloverMadonna anno domini (LSU Press)Jorie Graham
1995Nicole Cooley Resurrection (LSU Press)Cynthia Macdonald
1994Jan RichmanBecause the Brain Can Be Talked into Anything (LSU Press)Robert Pinsky
1993Alison Hawthorne DemingScience and Other Poems (LSU Press)Gerald Stern
1992Stephen YenserThe Fire in All Things (LSU Press)Richard Howard
1991Greg GlaznerFrom the Iron Chair (W. W. Norton)Charles Wright
1990Elaine TerranovaThe Cult of the Right Hand (Doubleday)Rita Dove
1989Martha HollanderThe Game of Statues (Atlantic Monthly Press)W.S. Merwin
1988April BernardBlackbird Bye Bye (Random House)Amy Clampitt
1987Judith BaumelThe Weight of Numbers (Wesleyan U. Press)Mona Van Duyn
1986Chris LlewellynFragments from the Fire (Viking)Maxine Kumin
1985Christianne BalkBindweed (Macmillan)Anthony Hecht
1984Eric PankeyFor the New Year (Atheneum)Mark Strand
1983Christopher Gilbert[21] Across the Mutual Landscape (Graywolf Press)Michael S. Harper
1982Anthony PetroskyJurgis Petraskas (Louisiana State University Press)Philip Levine
1981Alberto RíosWhispering to Fool the Wind (Sheep Meadow Press)Donald Justice
1980Jared Carter [22]Work, for the Night is Coming (Macmillan)Galway Kinnell
1979David Bottoms Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump (Morrow)Robert Penn Warren
1978Karen Snow[23]Wonders (Viking)Louis Simpson
1977Lauren ShakelyGuilty Bystander (Random House)Diane Wakoski
1976Laura Crafton GilpinThe Hocus-Pocus of the Universe (Doubleday)William Stafford
1975Reg SanerClimbing into the Roots (Harper & Row)William Meredith

References

  1. Nancy Breen (ed.). 2008 Poet's Market. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books. p. 412. ISBN 978-1-58297-499-6.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-12. Retrieved 2009-06-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets: BOOKS IN THIS SERIES". LSU Press. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07.
  4. "Walt Whitman Award". awardsandhonors.
  5. "Walt Whitman Award". Academy of American Poets. Archived from the original on 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  6. "Authors Jared Carter and Debra Magpie Earling To Read on Dec. 9". The Library of Congress. December 6, 2004.
  7. Blog, Newoldage. "Walt Whitman Award - NYTimes.com Search". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  8. Barth, John (June 16, 1985). "Writing: Can It Be Taught?". The New York Times.
  9. "Series: Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets". Louisiana State University Press. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  10. "Membership". Academy of American Poets. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
  11. JUDITH MILLER (December 2, 1996). "As Arts Prizes Multiply, So Do Doubts on Value". The New York Times.
  12. "Walt Whitman Award". Poets.org. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  13. "Poet receives high praise from Pulitzer winner - USC News". news.usc.edu. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  14. "Elana Bell Receives the 2011 Walt Whitman Award". poets.org news release. April 21, 2011.
  15. Dallas Lee (May 6, 2009). "Walt Whitman, the sublime and the Bibb County Dump". Like the Dew.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2009-06-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "UI grads win poetry awards". The Cedar Rapids Gazette. August 10, 2008.
  18. "Award turns poems into a book". The St. Louis Times Dispatch. April 8, 2007.
  19. "American life in poetry: Columbus Park". Duluth News Tribune. October 7, 2007.
  20. "Poet's Lines Earning Headlines". Chosun Ilbo. Jun 16, 2003. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  21. ALAN WILLIAMSON (June 23, 1985). "LOSS, DISCOVERY AND OTHER URGENIES". The New York Times.
  22. "Poetry Prize". The Luddington Daily News. June 13, 1980.
  23. THOMAS LASK (April 14, 1978). "Publishing: Award For 'New' Poet, 54". The New York Times.
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