|
Nye's prize was announced Friday by the Academy of American
Poets, which has previously given the award to Louise Glück,
John Ashbery and Rita Dove among others. Nye, 72, is known for
such collections as “Fuel,” “Yellow Queen” and “Grace Notes,”
which came out this year.
“In a stunning spectrum of works published in a period beginning
nearly fifty years ago, Naomi Shihab Nye has borne witness to
the complexities of cultural difference that connect us as human
beings, evidencing a firm commitment to the poet as bearer of
light and hope," Academy Chancellor Afaa Michael Weaver said in
a statement.
"In celebrating her Palestinian heritage with a gentle but
unflinching commitment, her body of work is a rare and precious
living entity in our time, when the tragic conflict between Gaza
and Israel threatens to deepen wounds and resentments
everywhere.
The academy also announced that it had awarded Evie Shockley the
Academy of American Poets Fellowship, which includes a $25,000
stipend and residency at the Eliot House in Gloucester,
Massachusetts. Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams and Claudia
Rankine are among previous Fellowship winners.
Shockley's “suddenly we" was a National Book Award finalist last
year. Her other books include “semiautomatic,” a Pulitzer Prize
finalist in 2018.
“In her poetry, she uses the persons of history in the way that
other writers and landscape painters use the colors of the light
on things to create space and time,” Academy Chancellor Ed
Roberson said in a statement.
All contents © copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
