2016 in poetry

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

Events

 * January 14 – Egyptian poet Omar Hazek, who was released from prison in September 2015, is prevented from leaving Egypt to receive the 2016 Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression.
 * January 26 – Egyptian poet Fatima Naoot is sentenced to three years in prison, found guilty of "contempt of religion." Naoot goes to prison immediately and must appeal from there.
 * American poets Hawona Sullivan Janzen and Clarence White participate in public art project Rondo Family Reunion in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Anniversaries

 * January 25 – the 125th birthday of Osip Mandelstam.
 * March 5 – semicentenary of the death of Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (Requiem)
 * March 27 – 90th birthday of Frank O'Hara. (See July 25)
 * April 24 – centenary of the start of the Easter Rising in Dublin, which inspired W. B. Yeats’s poem "Easter, 1916".
 * May 21 – 90th birthday of Robert Creeley (d. 2005).
 * June 7 – semicentenary of the death of Jean Arp, French sculptor, painter and poet, leader in Dadaism
 * July 11 – semicentenary of the death of Delmore Schwartz, American poet, Bollingen Prize winner and short story writer ("In Dreams Begin Responsibilities")
 * July 25 – semicentenary of the death of Frank O'Hara, American poet and key member of the New York School of poetry. (See March 27)
 * August 29 – semicentenary of the death of Melvin Tolson, American poet Modernist poet, educator, columnist, and politician
 * September 25 – semicentenary of the death of Mina Loy, British-born American artist, poet, Futurist and actor
 * September 28 – semicentenary of the death of André Breton, French poet, essayist and theorist; the leading exponent of Surrealism in literature

Canada

 * Gwen Benaway, Passage
 * Joe Denham, Regeneration Machine
 * Steven Heighton, The Waking Comes Late
 * Susan Holbrook, Throaty Wipes
 * Garry Thomas Morse, Prairie Harbour
 * Rachel Rose, Marry & Burn
 * Gregory Scofield, Witness, I Am

India

 * Sudeep Sen, Erotext, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-93-858905-8-1

New Zealand

 * Tusiata Avia, Fale Aiutu – Spirit House, Victoria University Press, ISBN 9781776560646

Poets in Best New Zealand Poems
These poets wrote the 25 poems selected for Best New Zealand Poems 2015 (guest editor was John Newton, published this year:


 * Morgan Bach
 * Serie Barford
 * Sarah Jane Barnett
 * David Beach
 * Hera Lindsay Bird


 * Wystan Curnow
 * John Dennison
 * Belinda Diepenheim
 * Murray Edmond
 * Joan Fleming


 * Bernadette Hall
 * Dinah Hawken
 * Alexandra Hollis
 * Brent Kininmont
 * Iain Lonie


 * Selina Tusitala Marsh
 * Frankie McMillan
 * Gregory O'Brien
 * Vincent O'Sullivan
 * Frances Samuel


 * kani te manukura
 * Steven Toussaint
 * Bryan Walpert
 * Alison Wong
 * Ashleigh Young

England

 * Jay Bernard, The Red and Yellow Nothing
 * Emily Berry, Anne Carson and Sophie Collins, If I'm Scared We Can't Win (Penguin Modern Poets)
 * Brian Bilston, You Took the Last Bus Home
 * Rachael Boast, Void Studies
 * Vahni Capildeo, Measures of Expatriation (Trinidad-born poet)
 * Melissa Lee-Houghton, Sunshine
 * Hollie McNish, Nobody Told Me
 * Alice Oswald, Falling Awake
 * Ruth Padel, Tidings – A Christmas Journey
 * Denise Riley, Say Something Back
 * Kae Tempest, Let Them Eat Chaos
 * Rebecca Watts, The Met Office Advises Caution

Scotland

 * Michel Faber, Undying: a love story (Dutch-born writer)

Anthologies in the United Kingdom

 * Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke, The Map and the Clock: A Laureates' Choice of the Poetry of Britain and Ireland

United States
Alphabetical listing by author name


 * Jos Charles, Safe Space (Ahsahta Press)
 * Matthew and Michael Dickman, Brother (Faber)
 * Tyehimba Jess, Olio
 * Ben Lerner, No Art (collection incorporating three previous volumes)
 * Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in This One
 * Michael Palmer, The Laughter of the Sphinx (New Directions)
 * Ocean Vuong, Night Sky With Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press)
 * C. D. Wright. ShallCross (Copper Canyon Press)

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States

 * J.D. McClatchy. Sweet Theft: A Poet's Commonplace Book
 * C. D. Wright. The Poet, The Lion, Talking Pictures, El Farolito, A Wedding in St. Roch, The Big Box Store, The Warp in the Mirror, Spring, Midnights, Fire & All (Copper Canyon Press)

German

 * Antony Theodore, Du bist die Seele meins Seins (Ventura Verlag), ISBN 978-39-408533-9-4

Awards and honors by country
Awards announced this year:

International

 * Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Laureate : Margaret Atwood

Australia awards and honors

 * C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry:
 * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry:

Canada awards and honors

 * Archibald Lampman Award: Pearl Pirie, the pet radish, shrunken
 * Atlantic Poetry Prize: Susan Goyette, The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl
 * 2016 Governor General's Awards: Steven Heighton, The Waking Comes Late (English); Normand de Bellefeuille, Le poème est une maison de bord de mer (French)
 * Griffin Poetry Prize:
 * Canada: Liz Howard, Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent
 * International: Norman Dubie, The Quotations of Bone
 * Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees): Adam Zagajewski.
 * Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize: Gregory Scofield
 * Gerald Lampert Award: Ben Ladouceur, Otter
 * Pat Lowther Award: Lorna Crozier, The Wrong Cat
 * Prix Alain-Grandbois: Rosalie Lessard, L'observatoire
 * Raymond Souster Award: Lorna Crozier, The Wrong Cat
 * Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: Raoul Fernandes, Transmitter and Receiver
 * Prix Émile-Nelligan: Jonathan Lamy, La vie sauve

France awards and honors

 * Prix Goncourt de la Poésie:

India awards and honors

 * Sahitya Akademi Award : Papineni Sivasankar for Rajanigandha (Telugu)
 * Jnanpith Award : Shankha Ghosh

New Zealand awards and honors

 * Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
 * Montana New Zealand Book Awards (poetry category):

United Kingdom awards and honors

 * Cholmondeley Award: Maura Dooley, David Morley, Peter Sansom, Iain Sinclair
 * Costa Award (formerly "Whitbread Awards") for poetry:
 * Shortlist: Melissa Lee-Houghton, Sunshine; Alice Oswald, Falling Awake; Denise Riley, Say Something Back; Kae Tempest, Let Them Eat Chaos
 * 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: Vahni Capildeo, Measures of Expatriation
 * Best First Collection:
 * Shortlist: Tiphanie Yanique, Wife
 * Best Poem:
 * Shortlist:
 * Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for poetry:
 * Shortlist:
 * Manchester Poetry Prize:
 * National Poet of Wales:
 * National Poetry Competition : Stephen Sexton for The Curfew
 * T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland): Jacob Polley, Jackself
 * Shortlist (announced in November 2016): 2016 Short List
 * The Times / Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation:
 * Wilfred Owen Poetry Award: Carol Ann Duffy

United States awards and honors

 * Arab American Book Award (The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award):
 * Honorable Mentions:
 * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Erin Adair-Hodges for Let's All Die Happy
 * Anisfield-Wolf Book Award:
 * Best Translated Book Award (BTBA):
 * Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books:
 * Jackson Poetry Prize: Will Alexander (poet)
 * Judges: Elizabeth Alexander, Rae Armantrout, and Terrance Hayes
 * Lambda Literary Award:
 * Gay Poetry:
 * Lesbian Poetry:
 * Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize:
 * Los Angeles Times Book Prize:
 * Finalists:
 * National Book Award for Poetry (NBA):
 * NBA Finalists:
 * NBA Longlist:
 * NBA Judges:
 * National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry:
 * The New Criterion Poetry Prize:
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (United States): to Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian
 * Finalists: to Four-Legged Girl by Diane Seuss ; and to Alive: New and Selected Poems by Elizabeth Willis
 * Wallace Stevens Award:
 * Whiting Awards:
 * PEN Award for Poetry in Translation:
 * PEN Center USA 2016 Poetry Award:
 * PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry:                     (Judges:   )
 * Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award:
 * Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize:
 * Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award:
 * Walt Whitman Prize –        – Judge:
 * Yale Younger Series:

From the Poetry Society of America

 * Frost Medal:
 * Shelley Memorial Award:
 * Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award:
 * Lyric Poetry Award:
 * Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award:
 * Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award:
 * George Bogin Memorial Award:
 * Robert H. Winner Memorial Award:
 * Cecil Hemley Memorial Award:
 * Norma Farber First Book Award:
 * Lucille Medwick Memorial Award:
 * William Carlos Williams Award:        (Judge: )
 * Finalists for WCW Award:

January – June
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 1 – Fazu Aliyeva, 83 (born 1932), Russian Avar poet and journalist
 * January 6 – Nivaria Tejera, 86 (born 1929), Cuban poet and novelist
 * January 9 – Zelimkhan Yaqub, 66 (born 1950), Azerbaijani poet
 * January 12 – C. D. Wright, 67 (born 1949), American poet who was the former poet laureate of Rhode Island and winner of the 2009 International Griffin Poetry Prize
 * January 15 – Francisco X. Alarcón, 61 (born 1954), Chicano-American poet who was born in California and grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico
 * January 19 – Laurence Lerner, 90 (born 1925), South African-born English-language poet and academic
 * February 7 – Andrew Glaze, 90 (born 1920), American poet appointed 11th Poet Laureate of Alabama in 2013
 * February 8 – Nida Fazli, 77 (born 1938), Indian poet and lyricist
 * February 21 – Akbar Ali, 90 (born 1925), Indian Kannada poet
 * Miroslav Nemirov, 54 (born 1961), Russian poet
 * March 5 – Rafael Squirru, 90 (born 1925), Argentine author, art critic and poet
 * April 13 – Jock Scot, 63 (born 1952), Scottish performance poet
 * April 30 – Daniel Berrigan, 94 (born 1921), American Jesuit priest, poet, peace activist and recidivist (one of Catonsville Nine); winner of Lamont Prize for his book of poems Time Without Number
 * June 4 –, 82, Russian poet.
 * June 16 – Bill Berkson, 76, American poet and art critic, heart attack.
 * June 25 – Adam Small, 79, South African writer and poet, winner of the Hertzog Prize. (born 1936).
 * June 30 – Sir Geoffrey Hill, 84, English poet

July – December

 * July 1 – Yves Bonnefoy, 93, French poet, essayist, translator, and critic (born 1923)
 * September 3 – Peter Oresick, 60, American poet (born 1955)
 * September 4 – Novella Matveyeva, 81, Russian poet and singer-songwriter (born 1934)
 * October 14 – Brigit Pegeen Kelly, American poet (born 1951)
 * October 28 – Jolanda Insana, 79, Italian poet and translator, Viareggio Prize recipient
 * December 27 – Anthony Cronin, 92, Irish poet (born 1928)
 * December 30 – Judith Ortiz Cofer, 64, Puerto Rican American poet and educator
 * December 31 – David Meltzer, 79, American poet and musician