Patricia Smith is this year's recipient of the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which is presented to a living U.S. poet in "recognition of their outstanding lifetime achievement." In addition, Susan Briante won the $7,500 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism; and Bryan Byrdlong, Steven Espada Dawson, Noor Hindi, Natasha Rao and Simon Shieh were named 2021 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows.
The awards are sponsored and administered by the Poetry Foundation, which publishes Poetry magazine, and will be presented at a virtual awards ceremony October 21. This is the first time in many years that the recipients of these annually awarded prizes will be honored together at one ceremony.
"Every one of these extraordinary writers is a credit to the art form, each bringing their own unique experiences and approaches to enrich the literary landscape," said Michelle T. Boone, president of the Poetry Foundation. "It is a joyous occasion to be able to celebrate artists in poetic lineage with one another, what they've created thus far, and what is yet to come."
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The Writers' Trust of Canada has announced finalists for this year's C$60,000 (about US$47,450) Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, which honors works published in Canada that demonstrate "a distinctive voice, as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style and technique." Each finalist receives C$5,000 (about US$3,955). The winner will be named November 3 at the digital Writers' Trust Awards. This year's shortlisted titles are:
NISHGA by Jordan Abel
On Foot to Canterbury: A Son's Pilgrimage by Ken Haigh
Permanent Astonishment: A Memoir by Tomson Highway
Peyakow: Reclaiming Cree Dignity, A Memoir by Darrel J. McLeod
Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams