2011 in poetry

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

• June 12 – A poet and student, Ayat al-Ghermezi of Bahrain, is sentenced to a year in prison as part of that kingdom's crackdown on Shiite protesters calling for greater rights.^[1] Ayat was arrested on March 30 for reciting a poem critical of the government and cursing the current prime minister, Khalifa ibn Salman Al Khalifa, during the Bahraini uprising in Pearl Square, the main gathering place for demonstrators, in February of this year.
• December 6 – A memorial to Ted Hughes is unveiled in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey by Seamus Heaney.^[2]

Works published in English

Australia

Canada

India, in English

• Vivek Narayanan, Universal Beach, 80 pages, ingirumimusnocteetconsumimurigni (SPD, dist.), ISBN 978-1-9346391-0-8

Ireland

United Kingdom

• Hal Duncan, Songs for the Devil and Death, 172 pages, Papaverua Press, ISBN 978-1907881046
• Ralph Pordzik, Pretending to See Elephants, 58 pages, Lulu Press, ISBN 978-1-4457-5568-7
• William Walker (age 97), The Poetry of Flt Lt William Walker AE, The Battle of Britain Memorial Trust^[3]
• Carol Watts, Occasionals, Reality Street, 88 pp., ISBN 978-1-874400-52-3

Anthologies in the United Kingdom

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom

United States

• Seth Abramson, Northerners, 72 pages, New Issues Press, ISBN 978-1-930974-96-4
• Ammiel Alcalay, “neither wit nor gold” (from them), 88 pp., Ugly Duckling Presse, ISBN 978-1-933254-84-5
• Will Alexander, Compression & Purity, 100 pp., City Lights, ISBN 978-0-87286-541-9
• Rae Armantrout, Money Shot, 80 pages, Wesleyan University Press, ISBN 978-0-819-57130-4
• Ernesto Cardenal, The Origin of the Species and Other Poems, translated & introduced by John Lyons, foreword by Anne Waldman, 168 pp., Texas Tech University Press, ISBN 978-0-89672-689-5
• Billy Collins, Horoscopes for the Dead, 128 pages, Random House, ISBN 978-140-006492-2
• William Corbett, The Whalen Poem, 64 pages, Hanging Loose Press, ISBN 978-1-93490-913-3
• Joshua Corey, Severance Songs, 84 pages, Tupelo Press, 978-1-932195-92-7
• Forrest Gander, Core Samples from the World, 96 pages, New Directions, ISBN 978-0-8112-1887-0
• Jane Hirshfield, Come, Thief, 108 pages, Knopf, ISBN 978-0-307-59542-3
• Harmony Holiday, Negro League Baseball, 104 pages, Fence Books, ISBN 978-1-934200-42-1
• Susan Howe, That This, 112 pages, New Directions, ISBN 978-0-811-21918-1
• David Meltzer, When I Was A Poet, 150 pages, City Lights, ISBN 978-0-87286-516-7
• Anna Moschovakis, You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake, 132 pages, Coffee House Press, ISBN 978-1-566-89250-6
• Alice Notley, Culture of One, 160 pages, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-143-11893-0
• Edward Nudelman, What Looks Like an Elephant, 116 pp., Lummox Press, ISBN 978-1-929878-91-8
• Ovid, Love Poems, Letters and Remedies of Ovid, transl. by David R. Slavitt; introd. by Michael Dirda, 384 pp., Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-05904-7
• Michael Palmer, Thread, 112 pages, New Directions, ISBN 978-0-8112-1921-1
• Ruben Quesada, Next Extinct Mammal, 62 pages, Greenhouse Review Press, ISBN 978-0-9655-2399-8
• Matthew Rohrer, Destroyer and Preserver, 96 pages, Wave, ISBN 978-1-933517-50-6
• Rabindranath Tagore, The Essential Tagore, ed. by Fakrul Alam & Radha Chakravarty, 864 pp., Belknap-Harvard, ISBN 978-0-674-05790-6
• Tyrone Williams, Pink Tie, Hooke Press,
• Elizabeth Willis, Address, 80 pages, Wesleyan, ISBN 978-0-819-57098-7
• Dean Young, Fall Higher, Copper Canyon Press, ISBN 978-1-55659-311-6

Anthologies in the United States

• Kenneth Goldsmith (ed.); Craig Dworkin (ed.) - Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing, 656 pages. Northwestern University Press, ISBN 978-0-810-12711-1
• Sarah Palin; Michael Solomon (ed.) – I Hope Like Heck, 64 pages. Byliner, ISBN 9781614520092

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States

• Charles Bernstein, Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions, 296 pages, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-04477-4
• Robert Duncan, The H.D. Book, 696 pages, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-26075-7
• Oren Izenberg, Being Numerous: Poetry and the Ground of Social Life, 272 pages, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-1-4866-3
• Christopher Nealon, The Matter of Capital: Poetry and Crisis in the American Century, 202 pages, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-0-5872-9

Poets in The Best American Poetry 2011

Works published in other languages

Denmark

French language

France

Anthologies in France

Germany

Poland

• Leszek Engelking, Muzeum dzieciństwa (Museum of Childhood, WBPiCAK) ISBN 978-83-62717-13-2
• Julia Hartwig, Gorzkie żale (Lenten Psalms, Wydawnictwo a5) ISBN 978-83-61298-30-4

Other languages

Bangla :

• Rahman Henry - Sorrow and some other happiness. (Dukkho O Aro Kichu Ananda); Bhashachitra, Dhaka, Bangladesh. ISBN 978-9-848-4-7102-9 – Bengali poetry
• Chandan chowdhury - Monument of crow (Kaker vaskorjo); Ittadi grantho prakash, Dhaka, Bangladesh. ISBN 984-7-028-9-0207-4 – Bengali poetry

Awards and honors by Country

Awards announced this year:

International

Australia awards and honors

Canada awards and honors

New Zealand awards and honors

United Kingdom awards and honors

• Cholmondeley Award:
• Costa Award (formerly "Whitbread Awards") for poetry:
  • Shortlist:
• English Association's Fellows' Poetry Prizes:
• Eric Gregory Award (for a collection of poems by a poet under the age of 30):
• Forward Poetry Prize:
  • Best Collection:
    • Shortlist:
  • Best First Collection:
    • Shortlist:
  • Best Poem:
    • Shortlist:
• Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for poetry:
  • Shortlist:
• Manchester Poetry Prize:
• National Poet of Wales:
• National Poetry Competition 2010:
• T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland):
  • Shortlist (announced in November 201): 2011 Short List
• The Times/Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation:

United States awards and honors

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize:
• Bollingen Prize: Susan Howe – Judges: Peter Gizzi, Marjorie Perloff, Claudia Rankine^[4]
• Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize:
• National Book Award for Poetry:
• National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry: [note: the 2011 award will be announced in March 2012]
• The New Criterion Poetry Prize:
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (United States): to Kay Ryan for The Best of It: New and Selected Poems
  • Finalists: The Common Man by Maurice Manning and Break the Glass by Jean Valentine
• Wallace Stevens Award:
• PEN Award for Poetry in Translation: – Judge:
• PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry:
• Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award:
• Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize : David Ferry^[5]
• Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award:
• It was announced August 9, 2011 that Philip Levine was named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (United States Poet Laureate).^[6]

From the Poetry Society of America

• Frost Medal:
• Shelley Memorial Award: – Judges:
• Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award: – Judge:
• Lyric Poetry Award: – Judge:
• Lucille Medwick Memorial Award: – Judge:  ; finalist:
• Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award: – Judge:  ; finalists:
• Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award: – Judge:  ; finalists:
• George Bogin Memorial Award: – Judge:
• Robert H. Winner Memorial Award: – Judge:  ; finalists:
• Cecil Hemley Memorial Award: – Judge:
• Norma Farber First Book Award: – Judge:
• William Carlos Williams Award: – Judge:  ; finalists:

From the Poetry Society of Virginia^[7] Student Poetry Contest

2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 8: Virginia Student Prize :: Judge: Dr. Kate Simpson, Winchester, VA

• 1st Place - Jake Robinson of Virginia Beach, VA for the poem “Makings of Men”
• 2nd Place - Mikal Cardine of Midland, VA for the poem “Remember”
• 3rd Place - Kira Tomlin of Front Royal, VA for the poem “Caught In Silence”
• 1st Honorable Mention - Elliott Warren of Richmond, VA for the poem “Time Does Not Heal”
• 2nd Honorable Mention - Franklin Ewing of Richmond, VA for the poem “Against Kosovel”
• 3rd Honorable Mention - Andre Aganbi of Chester, VA for the poem “Classic Scene”

2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 7: College/University :: Judge: Bob Kelly, Newport News, VA

• 1st Place Ishaway Friestad of Norfolk, VA for the poem “Super Nova”
• 3rd Place Lauren "Wren" Brown of Springfield, VA for the poem “Spiral”

2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 6: Grades 11 & 12 :: Judge: Nancy Powell, Hampton, VA

• 1st Place Franklin Ewing of Richmond, VA for the poem “Think”
• 2nd Place Bridget Jamison of Vienna, VA for the poem “The Dance”
• 3rd Place Stephen Wood of Richmond, VA for the poem “On The Rechristening of High Fructose Corn Syrup”

2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 5: Grades 9 & 10:: Judge: Pete Freas, Chesapeake, VA

• 1st Place Hannah Wilson of Oak Park, IL for the poem “I came from a mother…”
• 2nd Place Hannah Srajer of Oak Park, IL for the poem “Crusade”
• 2nd Place Olivia O'Sullivan of Oak Park, IL for the poem “weekday drinking…”
• 3rd Place Natalie Richardson of Oak Park, IL for the poem “his curious fingers…”
• 3rd Place Yuliya Semibratova of Oak Park, IL for the poem “not red, nor white, nor blue…”
• 1st Honorable Mention Rory Dunn of Fredericksburg, VA for the poem “The Feeling”

2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 4: Grades 7 & 8 :: Judge: ijil Rainbow Hawk Giver, Norfolk, VA

• 1st Place Tess Hinchman of West Bath, ME for the poem “March 15”
• 2nd Place Sam Herter of Brunswick, ME for the poem “Fears: Age 7”
• 3rd Place Lilly Richardson of Whitefield, ME for the poem “Do You Remember?”
• 1st Honorable Mention Sophia Carbonneau of Alna, ME for the poem “This Is Just To Say”
• 1st Honorable Mention Sabrina Sammel of Stafford, VA for the poem “Silence”
• 2nd Honorable Mention Morganne Elkins of Edgecomb, ME for the poem “Don”
• 2nd Honorable Mention Caleb Rinderer of Newport News, VA for the poem “Country Daybreak”
• 3rd Honorable Mention Rex Reilly of Miami Beach, FL for the poem “Chocolate”

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• January 5 – Malangatana Ngwenya, age 74 (born 1936) – Mozambican poet and painter^[8]
• January 10 – María Elena Walsh, age 80 (born 1930) – Argentine musician, poet and writer ("Manuelita la tortuga")^[9]
• January 11 – Susana Chávez, age 36 (born 1974) –, Mexican poet and human rights activist, strangled^[10]
• January 20 – F. A. Nettelbeck, age 60 (born 1950) – American poet^[11][12]
• January 20 – Reynolds Price, age 77 (born 1933) – American novelist, occasional poet, and scholar of the work of John Milton
• January 23 – Novica Tadić, age 62 (born 1949) – Yugoslavian poet^[13]
• January 26 – R. F. Langley, age 72 (born 1938) – British poet and diarist, loosely affiliated with the Cambridge poetry scene.^[14]
• February 3 – Édouard Glissant, age 82, (born 1928) – French-Martiniquan poet and writer.^[15]
• February 6 – Andrée Chedid, 90, Egyptian-born French poet and novelist.^[16]
• February 11 – Bo Carpelan, 84, Finnish poet and author.^[17]
• February 25 – Aminath Faiza, 82, Maldivian poet and author.^[18]
• February 25 – Justinas Marcinkevičius, 80, Lithuanian poet and playwright.^[19]
• March 2 – John Haines, 86, American poet and educator, former poet laureate of Alaska^[20]
• April 2 – Paul Violi, 66, American poet
• April 25 – Ira Cohen, 76 (born 1935), American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmaker
• May 19 – William Kloefkorn, 78 (born 1933), American poet and former "Nebraska State Poet"^[21]
• May 23 – Roberto Sosa, 81 (born 1930), Honduran poet ^[22]
• May 25:
  • Edwin Honig, 91 (born 1919), American poet, critic and translator known for his English renditions of seminal works of Spanish and Portuguese literature ^[23]
  • Yannis Varveris (1955-2011), Greek poet, critic and translator
• May 27 – Gil Scott-Heron, 62 (born 1949), American poet, spoken-word musician and author who helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetry^[24]

• May 29 – Da Real One, 46, American poet (Def Poetry) gunned down in North Miami.^[25]
• June 2 – Josephine Hart, 69 (born 1942), Irish-born British novelist and poetry promoter. As director of Haymarket Publishing, a founder of Gallery Poets and West End Poetry Hour.^[26]
• June 21 – Robert Kroetsch, OC, 83 (born 1927), Canadian novelist, poet and non-fiction writer.^[27]
• August 22 - Samuel Menashe, 85 (born 1925), American poet and the first poet to receive "The Neglected Masters Award", given by the The Poetry Foundation of America, which he received in 2004.^[28]
• August 24 - Seyhan Erözçelik, 49 (born 1962), a Turkish poet.^[29][30]
• September 4 - Hugh Fox, 79 (born 1932) - prolific U.S. novelist and poet and one of the founders of the Pushcart Prize.
• October 18 - Andrea Zanzotto, 90 (born 1921), Italian poet. ^[31]
• November 10 - Ivan Martin Jirous, 67 (born 1944), Czech poet
• November 24 - Andrzej Mandalian, 85 (born 1926), Polish poet

Notes

See also

• Poetry
• List of poetry awards