2014 in poetry

• January – Five fragments of nine poems, some previously unknown, by Greek poet Sappho are discovered on ancient papyrus, including the Brothers Poem.^[1] This news is being reported by multiple news sources by the end of the month.^[2][3][4]
• January 7 – Michel Pleau is named Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate (or Canada's new poet laureate), beginning a two-year mandate to "draw Canadians’ attention to the reading and writing of poetry."^[5][6]
• January 29 – Hashem Shabani, an Arab–Iranian poet,^[7] was executed by hanging in an unidentified Iranian prison^[8] after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani approved the sentences.^[9][10]
• March 7 – For the first time ever, all five poets laureate of the British Isles are women and for the first time all five perform together at the Women of the World festival in London on the eve of International Women's Day.^[11][12] The poets are: Carol Ann Duffy (England), Liz Lochhead (Scotland), Gillian Clarke (Wales), Paula Meehan (Ireland), and Sinéad Morrissey (Northern Ireland).^[13]
• March 19 – PEN International comes out with an action appeal protesting the two-year prison sentence handed down to Egyptian poet Omar Hazek. PEN states that this poet has been "imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly." Hazek, who has won several poetry awards and is a former employee of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, has been held in custody since early December 2013.^[14][15]
• April 22 – The Writers' Trust of Canada announces the new Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize, a new Canadian literary award to honour the body of work of a Canadian poet who has published at least three volumes of poetry.^[16] The award is slated to be presented for the first time in November.^[16]
• May 22 – The translation of Beowulf by J. R. R. Tolkien, which he had first completed in 1926, is published in England (after nearly 90 years) as Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary^[17] (his essay "On Translating Beowulf" had been published in 1940).
• June 12 – The Library of Congress selects Charles Wright as the new United States Poet Laureate, succeeding Natasha Trethewey.^[18]
• August 22 – New Zealand celebrates its own National Poetry Day, now in its 17th year, with more than 60 events held around the country. Included among the various readings and contests are events sponsoring the current New Zealand Poet Laureate, Vincent O’Sullivan, who reads poetry in Dunedin, and 2007–2009 Poet Laureate, Michele Leggott, who MCs the annual Auckland Library event.^[19]

• January 28 – On this day 75 years ago, W. B. Yeats died in Menton, France.^[20]
• February 21 – Christopher Marlowe's 450th birthday celebrated (may or may not be his birthday).^[20]
• March 9 – On this day 20 years ago, Charles Bukowski died (1994).^[21]
• March 31 – On this day 100 years ago, Nobel Prize-winning Mexican poet Octavio Paz was born (1914).^[22][23]
• April 23 – It is assumed that William Shakespeare was born on this day 450 years ago (because records show that he was baptised on April 26).^[20]
• May – The 100th anniversary of Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons.^[24][25]
• September 4 – On this day 100 years ago, French poet and essayist Charles Péguy, 41 (born 1873) was killed in action near Villeroy, Seine-et-Marne, in the early months of World War I
• October 10 – On this day 100 years ago, German poet Ernst Stadler, 31 (born 1883) was killed in battle at Zandvoorde near Ypres.
• October 15 [O.S. October 3] 1814 – On this day 200 years ago Mikhail Lermontov was born; he is sometimes referred to as "Russia's second-greatest poet."^[26]
• October 25 – On this day 100 years ago, American poet John Berryman (given name:John Allyn Smith) was born.
• October 27 – On this day 100 years ago, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea.^[20]
• October 30 – On this day 100 years ago, American poet and publisher James Laughlin, founder of New Directions Publishers, was born.
• November 3 – On this day 100 years ago, Austrian poet Georg Trakl, 27, committed suicide.

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

• Joanne Arnott – Halfling Spring
• John Barton – Polari
• Shane Book – Congotronic
• Christopher Levenson – Night Vision
• Garth Martens – Prologue for the Age of Consequence
• Arleen Paré – Lake of Two Mountains

• Why Poetry Sucks: Humorous Avant-Garde and Post-Avant English Canadian Poetry, Jonathan Ball & Ryan Fitzpatrick, editors. (Insomniac Press) ISBN 9781554831227
• Under the Mulberry Tree: poems for & about Raymond Souster, James Deahl, editor. (Quattro Books) ISBN 9781927443637^[27]

• Ranjit Hoskote, Central Time, Penguin India, ISBN 978-06-700868-1-8

• Airini Beautrais, Dear Neil Roberts, Victoria University Press
• Kay McKenzie Cooke, Born to a Red-Headed Woman, Otago University Press
• Chris Tse, How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, Auckland University Press

Poems from these 25 poets were selected by Mark Williams and Jane Stafford for Best New Zealand Poems 2013, published online this year:

• Liz Berry, Black Country (Chatto)
• Colette Bryce, The Whole & Rain-domed Universe (Picador; Northern Ireland poet in England)
• John Burnside, All One Breath (Cape)
• Yrsa Daley-Ward, Bone
• Lavinia Greenlaw, A Double Sorrow: Troilus and Criseyde (Faber)
• Selima Hill, The Sparkling Jewel of Naturism (Bloodaxe Books)^[28]
• Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion (Carcanet; Jamaican poet in England)
• Joss Sheldon, Involution & Evolution: A rhyming anti-war novel
• Rosemary Tonks (died April 15), Bedouin of the London Evening: Collected Poems (Bloodaxe Books)
• Hugo Williams, I Knew the Bride (Faber)

• Harry Clifton, The Holding Centre: Selected Poems 1974–2004 (BloodAxe Books)

• Stewart Conn, The Touch of Time: New & Selected Poems (BloodAxe Books)

• Jonathan Edwards, My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren)

• Ten: the new wave, edited by Karen McCarthy Woolf (BloodAxe) ISBN 1 78037 110 1 – new poetry voices in Britain including Mona Arshi, Jay Bernard, Kayo Chingonyi, Rishi Dastidar, Edward Doegar, Inua Ellams, Sarah Howe, Adam Lowe, Eileen Pun and Warsan Shire

• Laura Jansen – The Roman Paratext: Frame, Texts, Readers. (Cambridge University Press) ISBN 978-1107024366

• David Biespiel, editor. Poems of the American South (Random House)
• Carolyn Forché & Duncan Wu, editors. Poetry of Witness: The Tradition in English, 1500–2001 (W. W. Norton)

• John Drury – Music at Midnight: The Life and Poetry of George Herbert. (University of Chicago Press)
• Tom Hawkins – Iambic Poetics in the Roman Empire (Cambridge University Press)
• Ron Silliman – Against Conceptual Poetry (Counterpath Press)

^[29]

• Antony Theodore, Gottliche Augenblicke : Eine Reise durch das Jahr, ISBN 978-39-408532-5-7

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

Awards announced this year:

• Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Laureate: to Ko Un (South Korea)^[30]

• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, Liquid Nitrogen
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Fiona Hile, Novelties
• Prime Minister's Literary Awards: Melinda Smith, Drag Down to Unlock or Place an Emergency Call

• Archibald Lampman Award: David O'Meara, A Pretty Sight
• Atlantic Poetry Prize: Don Domanski, Bite Down Little Whisper
• 2014 Governor General's Awards: Arleen Paré, Lake of Two Mountains (English); José Acquelin, Anarchie de la lumière (French)^[31]
• Griffin Poetry Prize:
  • Canada: Anne Carson, Red Doc>^[32]
  • International: Brenda Hillman, Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire^[32]
  • Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees) to Adelia Prado
• Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize: Ken Babstock^[33]
• Gerald Lampert Award: Murray Reiss, The Survival Rate of Butterflies in the Wild
• Pat Lowther Award: Alexandra Oliver, Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway
• Prix Alain-Grandbois: Michaël Trahan, Nœud coulant
• Raymond Souster Award: Anne Compton, Alongside
• Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: Jordan Abel, The Place of Scraps
• Prix Émile-Nelligan: Roxanne Desjardins, Ciseaux

• Prix Goncourt de la Poésie: William Cliff

• Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
• New Zealand Post Book Awards:
  • Poetry Award winner: Vincent O'Sullivan, Us, then. Victoria University Press
  • NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry: Marty Smith, Horse with Hat. Victoria University Press

• Sahitya Akademi Award : Adil Jussawalla for Trying to Say Goodbye (English)

• Cholmondeley Award: W. N. Herbert, Jeremy Hooker, John James, Glyn Maxwell, Denise Riley
• Costa Book Awards poetry award: Jonathan Edwards, My Family and Other Superheroes
  • Shortlist: Colette Bryce, The Whole & Rain-domed Universe; Lavinia Greenlaw, A Double Sorrow: Troilus and Criseyde; Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion
• English Association's Fellows' Poetry Prizes:
• Eric Gregory Award (for a collection of poems by a poet under the age of 30):
• Forward Prizes for Poetry:
  • Best Collection: Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion
    • Shortlist: Colette Bryce, The Whole & Rain-domed Universe; John Burnside, All One Breath; Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night; Hugo Williams, I Knew the Bride
  • Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection: Liz Berry, Black Country
    • Shortlist:
  • Best Poem: Stephen Santus, "In a Restaurant"
    • Shortlist:
• Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for poetry:
  • Shortlist:
• Manchester Poetry Prize:
• National Poet of Wales: Gillian Clarke (since 2008)
• National Poetry Competition : Roger Philip Dennis for Corkscrew Hill Photo
• T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland): David Harsent, Fire Songs
  • Shortlist (announced in November 2014): 2014 Short List
• The Times/Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation:

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Nate Marshall for Wild Hundreds^[34]
• AML Award for Poetry awarded to Kristen Eliason for Picture Dictionary
  • Finalists: Kimberly Johnson, Uncommon Prayer and Made Flesh: Sacrament and Poetics in Post-Reformation England; Laura Stott, In the Museum of Coming and Going
• Arab American Book Award (The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award): Philip Metres, A Concordance of Leaves^[35]
  • Honorable mentions: Farid Matuk, My Daughter La Chola; Fady Joudah, Alight
• Best Translated Book Award (BTBA):
• Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books: Richie Hofmann, Second Empire^[36]
• Bollingen Prize:
• Jackson Poetry Prize: Claudia Rankine.^[37]
  • Judges: Tracy K. Smith, David St. John, and Mark Strand
• Lambda Literary Award:
  • Gay Poetry: Rigoberto González, Unpeopled Eden
  • Lesbian Poetry: Ana Božičević, Rise in the Fall
• Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize:
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize:
  • Finalists: Joshua Beckman, The Inside of an Apple (Wave Books); Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Hello, the Roses (New Directions); Ron Padgett, Collected Poems (Coffee House Press); Elizabeth Robinson On Ghosts (Solid Objects); Lynn Xu, Debts & Lessons (Omnidawn)^[38]
• National Book Award for Poetry (NBA):^[39]
  • NBA Finalists:
    • Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night
    • Fanny Howe, Second Childhood
    • Maureen N. McLane, This Blue
    • Fred Moten, The Feel Trio
    • Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric
  • NBA Longlist:
    • Linda Bierds, Roget's Illusion
    • Brian Blanchfield, A Several World
    • Edward Hirsch, Gabriel: A Poem
    • Spencer Reece, The Road to Emmaus
    • Mark Strand, Collected Poems
• National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry:
• The New Criterion Poetry Prize: Fix Quiet by John Poch
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (United States): Vijay Seshadri, 3 Sections^[40][41]
  • Finalists: Morri Creech, The Sleep of Reason^[42] and Adrian Matejka, The Big Smoke (Penguin)^[41][43]
• Wallace Stevens Award:
• Whiting Writers' Award (in Poetry):
• PEN Award for Poetry in Translation: – Judge:
• PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry: Frank Bidart (Judges: Peg Boyers, Toi Derricotte, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips)^[44][45][46]
• Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award:
• Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Nathaniel Mackey^[47]
• Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award:
• Walt Whitman Prize – Hannah Sanghee Park for The Same-Different.^[48] – Judge: Rae Armantrout
• Yale Younger Series:

• Frost Medal: Gerald Stern
• Shelley Memorial Award: Bernadette Mayer^[49]
• Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award: Tom Thompson
• Lyric Poetry Award: Meghan Kemp-Gee
• Alice Fay di Castagnola Award: Timothy Donnelly
• Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award: Helen Ross
• George Bogin Memorial Award: Gary Young
• Robert H. Winner Memorial Award: Dore Kiesselbach – Judge: Alberto Rios
• Cecil Hemley Memorial Award: Ari Banias – Judge:
• Norma Farber First Book Award: r. erica doyle
• Lucille Medwick Memorial Award: David Welch
• William Carlos Williams Award: Ron Padgett, Collected Poems (Judge: Thomas Lux)^[50]
  • Finalists for WCW Award: