2017 in poetry
# 2017 in poetry

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

## Events

* May 23 – English poet Tony Walsh reads his 2013 poem "This is the place" to the crowds gathered in Albert Square, Manchester for a public vigil following this week's Manchester Arena bombing.
* June 23 – English-resident writer Ben Okri publishes his poem "Grenfell Tower, June 2017" in the Financial Times following this month's Grenfell Tower fire in London.

## Anniversaries

* March 1 – Centenary of the birth of the American poet Robert Lowell.

## Selection of works published in English

### Australia

* Michael Farrell, I Love Poetry
* Alan Wearne, These Things Are Real
* Fiona Wright, Domestic Interior

### Canada

* Billy-Ray Belcourt, This Wound Is a World
* Lorna Crozier, What the Soul Doesn't Want
* Nora Gould, Selah
* Aisha Sasha John, I have to live
* Benjamin Hertwig, Slow War
* Donato Mancini, Same Diff
* Julia McCarthy, All the Names Between
* Joshua Whitehead, Full-Metal Indigiqueer

### New Zealand

* Airini Beautrais, Flow: Whanganui River Poems, Victoria University Press
* Kate Camp, The Internet of Things, Victoria University Press
* Paula Green, New York Pocket Book, Seraph Press

**Poets in Best New Zealand Poems**

These poets wrote the 25 poems selected for Best New Zealand Poems 2016 (guest editor was Jenny Bornholdt), published this year:

### United Kingdom

**England**

* Megan Beech, You Sad Feminist
* Emily Berry, Stranger, Baby
* Kayo Chingonyi, Kumukanda
* Helen Dunmore (d. June 5), Inside the Wave
* Michael Longley, Angel Hill (Northern Irish poet published in England)
* Robert Macfarlane, The Lost Words: A Spell Book (illustrated by Jackie Morris)
* Hollie McNish, Plum
* Sinéad Morrissey, On Balance (Northern Irish poet published in England)
* Richard Osmond, Useful Verses

### United States

Alphabetical listing by author name

* Clark Coolidge, Selected Poems: 1962-1985, Station Hill Press
* Shara McCallum, Madwoman, Alice James Books
* Morgan Parker, There are More Beautiful Things than Beyoncé, Tin House Books

## Awards and honors by country

* See also: List of poetry awards

Awards announced this year:

### International

* Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Laureate:

### Australia awards and honors

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

### Canada awards and honors

* Archibald Lampman Award: Stephen Brockwell, All of Us Reticent, Here, Together
* Atlantic Poetry Prize: Jennifer Houle, The Back Channels
* 2017 Governor General's Awards: Richard Harrison, On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood (English), Louise Dupré, La Main hantée (French)
* Griffin Poetry Prize:
   * Canada: Jordan Abel, Injun
   * International: Alice Oswald, Falling Awake
   * Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees): Frank Bidart
* Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize: Louise Bernice Halfe
* Gerald Lampert Award: Ingrid Ruthig, This Being
* Pat Lowther Award: Sue Sinclair, Heaven's Thieves
* Prix Alain-Grandbois: Marie-Célie Agnant, Femmes des terres brûlées
* Raymond Souster Award: Louise Bernice Halfe, Burning in this Midnight Dream
* Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: Adèle Barclay, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You
* Prix Émile-Nelligan: François Guerrette, Constellation des grands brûlés

### France awards and honors

* Prix Goncourt de la Poésie:

### New Zealand awards and honors

* Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
   * Fiction: Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler
   * Nonfiction: Peter Simpson
   * Poetry: Paula Green
* Montana New Zealand Book Awards (poetry category):

### United Kingdom awards and honors

* Cholmondeley Award: Caroline Bergvall, Sasha Dugdale, Philip Gross, Paula Meehan
* Costa Award (formerly "Whitbread Awards") for poetry:
   * Shortlist: Kayo Chingonyi, Kumukanda; Helen Dunmore (d. June 5), Inside the Wave (also overall Book of the Year winner); Sinéad Morrissey, On Balance; Richard Osmond, Useful Verses
* 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 2017:
* Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Paul Muldoon
* T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland):
   * Shortlist (announced in November 2017): 2017 Short List
* The Times / Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation:

### United States awards and honors

* Arab American Book Award (The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award):
   * Honorable Mentions:
* Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize:
* Anisfield-Wolf Book Award:
* Best Translated Book Award (BTBA):
* Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books:
* Bollingen Prize: to Jean Valentine
* Jackson Poetry Prize: to Patricia Spears Jones
   * Judges: Henri Cole, Kwame Dawes, and Mary Szybist
* 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 Tyehimba Jess for Olio
   * Finalists: XX by Campbell McGrath; Collected Poems: 1950-2012, by Adrienne Rich
* Wallace Stevens Award:
* Whiting Awards:
* PEN Award for Poetry in Translation:
* PEN Center USA 2017 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: to Susan Howe
* Shelley Memorial Award: to Gillian Conoley
* 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:

## Deaths

### January – June

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

* January 2 – John Berger, 90, English novelist, painter and art critic, and poet (b. 1926)
* January 25 – Harry Mathews, 86, American novelist and poet (b. 1930)
* February 5 – Thomas Lux, 70, American poet and teacher (b. 1946)
* February 8 – Tom Raworth, 78, British poet, visual artist, publisher, and teacher (b. 1938)
* March 10 – Mari Evans, 93, American poet. (b. 1923)
* March 16 – Wojciech Młynarski, 75, Polish poet, singer and songwriter (born 1941)
* March 17 – Derek Walcott, 87, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Laureate in 1992 (b. 1930)
* March 22 – Joanne Kyger, 82, American poet who had ties to the poets of Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the Beat generation, (b. 1934)
* April 1 – Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian poet, 84 (b. 1933)
* May 24 – Denis Johnson, American poet (The Incognito Lounge), novelist (Tree of Smoke), and short story writer (Jesus' Son), 67 (b. 1947).
* June 5 – Helen Dunmore, English poet, novelist and children's writer, 64 (born 1952)
* June 8 - Shinichiro Hagihara, Japanese tanka poet

### July – December

* November 15 – Michelle Boisseau, 62, American poet (b. 1955)
