Category: News

University of Arizona English Professor Susan Briante is the winner of the 2021 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism from the Poetry Foundation.The award, which includes a $7,500 prize, honors the best book-length works of criticism published in the prior calendar year; the award recognizes biographies, essay collections, and critical editions that consider the subject of poetry or poets.Briante received the award … Continue reading UArizona Professor Susan Briante Receives Prestigious Poetry Award (via U of Arizona) →

Safia Elhillo was a freshman in high school when she started keeping a diary to record her heartbreaks. All of her entries were poems, so if her parent ever found them, she could hide behind the metaphors and pretend she wasn’t dating.Younger poets of color now look up to Elhillo as a trailblazer. Her latest … Continue reading New to poetry? These poets will help you get started (via LA Times) →

When Cin the Poet looks at her years to come as a rapper, writer and spoken word artist, she sees no limits. She even has speeches prepared for an eventual Grammy, and one for a Nobel Peace Prize. "It's limitless," she said. "I can go as far as I put the work into it."A major chunk of … Continue reading A life of Cin has no limits for Birmingham rapper and spoken word artist (via Montgomery Advertiser) →

As the sun slipped behind the Himalayas, the poet picked his way down to the rocky riverbed. He looked left and right to make sure nobody was watching. Then, to the burbling water, he began to read:Each word spoken here meets censors and checksYesterday the ones sermonizing on dignityHave today rude daggers kissing their necks.All … Continue reading As Kashmir Crackdown Endures, Poets Stifle Their Verses (via NY Times) →

If there's one theme that permeates Emily Cooper’s debut poetry collection Glass, writes James Patterson, it’s the question of ownership. Who owns what and to what extent are we are allowed to take ownership of the different narratives and identities that shape our lives?By beginning on this premise, Cooper is able to weave between big ideas … Continue reading Heart of Glass: Emily Cooper on her debut poetry collection (via RTE) →

The pioneering Jamaican dub poet Jean “Binta” Breeze has died aged 65, her agents have confirmed.Breeze, considered one of the most important and influential contemporary poets, was a regular performer at literary festivals in both the UK and across the world.She had trained at the Jamaican School of Drama and began writing poetry in the … Continue reading Jamaican dub poet Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze dies aged 65 (via The Guardian) →

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $750,000 grant to an international team led by Kwame Dawes, professor of English, and Lorna Dawes, associate professor of University Libraries, to expand an online portal for African poetry.Initially established in 2017, the African Poetry Digital Portal documents the work of African poets and provides digital access to related creative … Continue reading Mellon grant to transform African poetry research, scholarship (via Nebraska Today) →

When a female author dies by suicide, it defines her. From Virginia Woolf to Sarah Kane, everything she did, everything she created during her life becomes part of a death-drive narrative. When a male author dies prematurely, it is a tragic stopper in his creative output – we mourn the poetry Dylan Thomas never wrote … Continue reading Sylvia Plath: Will the poet always be defined by her death? (via BBC) →

For poetry in the U.S., 1946 marked a memorable year. The nation naturalized W.H. Auden, who still also remained a Brit. Ezra Pound – declared to be of “unsound mind” for misadventures during World War II – landed in a Washington, D.C., psychiatric hospital for a dozen years. Gertrude Stein left the world; Patti Smith … Continue reading Saint Louis Poetry Center Celebrates 75 Years (via Ladue News) →

Full Title: "Milan’s Miart Fair Is Making Its In-Person Return This September With a Slew of Poetry-Inspired Initiatives (via Artnet)" Milan’s international art fair, Miart, is making a much anticipated in-person return this September. The lively Italian fair was gaining new attention back in 2019 when a number of blue-chip international galleries joined as exhibitors for the first time. … Continue reading Milan’s Miart Fair’s Slew of Poetry-Inspired Initiatives (via Artnet) →