National Book Award for Poetry
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The National Book Award for Poetry is one of four annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".[1] The panelists are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field".[2]
The category Poetry was established in 1950 and has been awarded annually save the period 1985 to 1990.[3]
The award recognizes one book written by a US citizen and published in the US from December 1 to November 30. The National Book Foundation accepts nominations from publishers until June 15, requires mailing nominated books to the panelists by August 1, and announces five finalists in October. The winner is announced on the day of the final ceremony in November. The award is $10,000 and a bronze sculpture; other finalists get $1000, a medal, and a citation written by the panel.[4]
There were 148 nominations for the 2010 award.[5]
Winners[edit]
The winner is listed first followed by the four other finalists (from 1987) or other runners-up.
| 2010–2019[6] | ||
| 2017[7] | Frank Bidart | Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 |
| Leslie Harrison | The Book of Endings | |
| Layli Long Soldier | "WHEREAS" | |
| Shane McCrae | "In the Language of My Captor" | |
| Danez Smith | "Don’t Call Us Dead" | |
| 2016[8] | Daniel Borzutzky | The Performance of Becoming Human |
| Rita Dove | Collected Poems 1974 – 2004 | |
| Peter Gizzi | Archeophonics | |
| Jay Hopler | The Abridged History of Rainfall | |
| Solmaz Sharif | Look | |
| 2015[9][10] | Robin Coste Lewis | Voyage of the Sable Venus |
| Ross Gay | Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude | |
| Terrance Hayes | How to Be Drawn | |
| Ada Limón | Bright Dead Things | |
| Patrick Phillips | Elegy for a Broken Machine | |
| 2014[11] | Louise Gluck | Faithful and Virtuous Night[12] |
| Fanny Howe | Second Childhood | |
| Maureen N. McLane | This Blue | |
| Fred Moten | The Feel Trio | |
| Claudia Rankine | Citizen | |
| 2013[13][14] | Mary Szybist | Incarnadine |
| Frank Bidart | Metaphysical Dog | |
| Lucie Brock-Broido | Stay, Illusion | |
| Adrian Matejka | The Big Smoke | |
| Matt Rasmussen | Black Aperture | |
| 2012[15] | David Ferry | Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations[16][17] |
| Susan Wheeler | Meme | |
| Cynthia Huntington | Heavenly Bodies | |
| Tim Seibles | Fast Animal | |
| Alan Shapiro | Night of the Republic | |
| 2011 | Nikky Finney | Head Off & Split: Poems |
| Yusef Komunyakaa | The Chameleon Couch | |
| Carl Phillips | Double Shadow | |
| Adrienne Rich | Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems: 2007-2010 | |
| Bruce Smith | Devotions | |
| 2010 | Terrance Hayes | Lighthead |
| Kathleen Graber | The Eternal City | |
| James Richardson | By the Numbers | |
| C.D. Wright | One with Others | |
| Monica Youn | Ignatz | |
| 2000-09[18] | ||
| 2009 | Keith Waldrop | Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy |
| Rae Armantrout | Versed | |
| Ann Lauterbach | Or to Begin Again | |
| Carl Phillips | Speak Low | |
| Lyrae van Clief-Stefanon | Open Interval | |
| 2008 | Mark Doty | Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems |
| 2007 | Robert Hass | Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–2005 |
| 2006 | Nathaniel Mackey | Splay Anthem |
| 2005 | W. S. Merwin | Migration: New and Selected Poems |
| 2004 | Jean Valentine | Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003 |
| 2003 | C. K. Williams | The Singing |
| 2002 | Ruth Stone | In the Next Galaxy |
| 2001 | Alan Dugan | Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry (vol 7 of seven) |
| 2000 | Lucille Clifton | Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 |
| 1991–99[19] | ||
| 1999 | Ai | Vice: New and Selected Poems |
| 1998 | Gerald Stern | This Time: New and Selected Poems |
| 1997 | William Meredith | Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems |
| 1996 | Hayden Carruth | Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey: Poems, 1991–1995 |
| 1995 | Stanley Kunitz | Passing Through: The Later Poems, New and Selected |
| 1994 | James Tate | The Worshipful Company of Fletchers: Poems |
| 1993 | A. R. Ammons | Garbage |
| 1992 | Mary Oliver | New and Selected Poems (vol 1 of two) |
| 1991 | Philip Levine | What Work Is |
| Andrew Hudgins | The Never-Ending | |
| Linda McCarriston | Eva-Mary | |
| Adrienne Rich | An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991 | |
| Marilyn Nelson Waniek | The Homeplace: Poems | |
| 1990 | ||
| 1989 | ||
| 1988 | ||
| 1987 | The Poetry award and many others were eliminated from the program when it was revamped in 1984. It was restored in 1991, now for current-year publications, with a standard five finalists announced a few weeks prior to the main event. | |
| 1986 | ||
| 1985 | ||
| 1984 | ||
| 1980–83[20] | ||
| 1983 [a] |
Charles Wright | Country Music: Selected Early Poems |
| 1983 | Galway Kinnell | Selected Poems |
| 1982 | William Bronk | Life Supports: New and Collected Poems |
| 1981 | Lisel Mueller | The Need to Hold Still: Poems |
| 1980 | Philip Levine | Ashes: Poems New and Old |
| 1970–79[21] | ||
| 1979 | James Merrill | Mirabell: Books of Number |
| 1978 | Howard Nemerov | The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov |
| 1977 | Richard Eberhart | Collected Poems, 1930-1976: including 43 new poems |
| 1976 | John Ashbery | Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror |
| 1975 | Marilyn Hacker | Presentation Piece |
| 1974 [a] |
Adrienne Rich | Diving into the Wreck: Poems, 1971-1972 |
| 1974 | Allen Ginsberg | The Fall of America: Poems of These States, 1965-1971 |
| 1973 | A. R. Ammons | Collected Poems, 1951-1971 |
| 1972 [a] |
Howard Moss | Selected Poems |
| 1972 | Frank O'Hara | The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara (posth.) |
| 1971 | Mona Van Duyn | To See, To Take: Poems |
| 1970 | Elizabeth Bishop | The Complete Poems |
| 1960–69[22] | ||
| 1969 | John Berryman | His Toy, His Dream, His Rest |
| 1968 | Robert Bly | The Light Around the Body |
| 1967 | James Merrill | Nights and Days |
| 1966 | James Dickey | Buckdancer's Choice: Poems |
| 1965 | Theodore Roethke | The Far Field (posth.) |
| 1964 | John Crowe Ransom | Selected Poems |
| 1963 | William Stafford | Traveling Through the Dark |
| 1962 | Alan Dugan | Poems (vol 1 of seven) |
| 1961 | Randall Jarrell | The Woman at the Washington Zoo: Poems and Translations |
| 1960 | Robert Lowell | Life Studies |
| 1950–59[23] | ||
| 1959 | Theodore Roethke | Words for the Wind: Poems of Theodore Roethke |
| 1958 | Robert Penn Warren | Promises: Poems, 1954-1956 |
| 1957 | Richard Wilbur | Things of This World |
| 1956 | W. H. Auden | The Shield of Achilles |
| 1955 | Wallace Stevens | The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens |
| 1954 | Conrad Aiken | Collected Poems |
| 1953 | Archibald MacLeish | Collected Poems, 1917-1952 |
| 1952 | Marianne Moore | Collected Poems |
| 1951 | Wallace Stevens | The Auroras of Autumn |
| 1950 | William Carlos Williams | Paterson: Book Three and Selected Poems (two books)[24] |
| No runners up.[24][25] | ||
Repeat winners[edit]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "History of the National Book Awards". National Book Foundation (NBF): About Us. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ "How the National Book Awards Work". NBF: Awards. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ "National Book Award Winners: 1950 – 2009". NBF: Awards. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ "National Book Award Selection Process". NBF: Awards. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". NBF: About Us. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 2010". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 2010 or a later year from the top left menu.)
- ^ "National Book Foundation -Awards Winners & Finalists 2017".
- ^ "2016 National Book Awards". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
- ^ "2015 National Book Awards". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ Alter, Alexandra (19 November 2015). "Ta-Nehisi Coates Wins National Book Award". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ Alex Shephard (October 15, 2014). "National Book Awards shortlists announced". Melville House Publishing. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
- ^ Alter, Alexandra (November 19, 2014). "National Book Award Goes to Phil Klay for His Short Story Collection". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
- ^ "2013 National Book Award Finalists Announced". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
- ^ "2013 National Book Awards". NBF. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
- ^ "National Book Award Finalists Announced Today". Library Journal. October 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "2012 National Book Awards Go to Erdrich, Boo, Ferry, Alexander". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ Leslie Kaufman (November 14, 2012). "Novel About Racial Injustice Wins National Book Award". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 2000". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 2000 to 2009 from the top left menu.)
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1990". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1990 to 1999 from the top left menu.)
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1980". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1980 to 1983 from the top left menu.)
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1970". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1970 to 1979 from the top left menu.)
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1960". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1960 to 1969 from the top left menu.)
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1950". NBF. Retrieved 2012-04-01. (Select 1950 to 1959 from the top left menu.)
- ^ a b "National Book Awards – 1950". NBF. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
(With essays by Neil Baldwin and Ross Gay from the Awards 50-year print publication(?) and 60-year anniversary blog. Baldwin covers the award-sharing book: "The edition of the Selected Poems brought out in 1949 has of necessity over the past half-century been emended and expanded many times. ...") - ^ At the first awards dinner in the currently recognized series, there were five honorable mentions announced in the non-fiction category only.
• "Book Publishers Make 3 Awards: ... Gold Plaques", The New York Times, March 17, 1950, page 21.
