2016 in poetry

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.

  Anniversaries

• January 25 – the 125th birthday of Osip Mandelstam.
• March 5 – semicentenary of the death of Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet
• March 27 – 90th birthday of Frank O'Hara.
• 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.
• 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
• July 25 – semicentenary of the death of Frank O'Hara, American poet and key member of the New York School of poetry.
• 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

  Selection of works published in English

Australia

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

  Anthologies in Canada

New Zealand

• Tusiata Avia, Fale Aiutu - Spirit House, Victoria University Press,

  Poets in ''Best New Zealand Poems''

• 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

  United Kingdom

England

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

  Northern Ireland

Scotland

• Michel Faber, Undying: a love story

  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

  Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom

United States

• Jos Charles, Safe Space
• Matthew and Michael Dickman, Brother
• Tyehimba Jess, Olio
• Ben Lerner, No Art
• Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself In This One
• Michael Palmer, The Laughter of the Sphinx
• Ocean Vuong, Night Sky With Exit Wounds
• C. D. Wright. ShallCross

  Anthologies in the United States

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

  Poets in ''The Best American Poetry 2016''

Awards and honors by country

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: Pearl Pirie, the pet radish, shrunken
• Atlantic Poetry Prize: Sue Goyette, The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl
• 2016 Governor General's Awards: Steven Heighton, The Waking Comes Late ; Normand de Bellefeuille, Le poème est une maison de bord de mer
• Griffin Poetry Prize:
• *Canada: Liz Howard, Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent
• *International: Norman Dubie, The Quotations of Bone
• *Lifetime Recognition Award : 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:

  New Zealand awards and honors

• Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
• Montana New Zealand Book Awards :

  United Kingdom awards and honors

• Cholmondeley Award:
• Costa Award for poetry:
• * Shortlist: Melissa Lee-Houghton, Sunshine; Alice Oswald, Falling Awake; Denise Riley, Say Something Back; Kate Tempest, Let Them Eat Chaos
• English Association's Fellows' Poetry Prizes:
• Eric Gregory Award :
• 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 2016:
• T. S. Eliot Prize : Jacob Polley, Jackself
• *Shortlist : 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 :
• *Honorable Mentions:
• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Erin Adair-Hodges for Let’s All Die Happy
• Anisfield-Wolf Book Award:
• Best Translated Book Award :
• Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books:
• Jackson Poetry Prize: Will Alexander
• *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 Finalists:
• *NBA Longlist:
• *NBA Judges:
• National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry:
• The New Criterion Poetry Prize:
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry : 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:
• 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:
• *Finalists for WCW Award:

  Conferences and workshops by country

Australia

Canada

Mexico

New Zealand

United Kingdom

United States

Deaths

January – June

• January 1 – Fazu Aliyeva, 83, Russian Avar poet and journalist
• January 6 – Nivaria Tejera, 86, Cuban poet and novelist
• January 9 – Zelimkhan Yaqub, 66, Azerbaijani poet
• January 12 – C. D. Wright, 67, 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, Chicano-American poet who was born in California and grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico
• January 19 – Laurence Lerner, 90, South African-born English-language poet and academic
• February 7 – Andrew Glaze, 90, American poet appointed 11th Poet Laureate of Alabama in 2013
• February 8 – Nida Fazli, 77, Indian poet and lyricist
• February 21 – Akbar Ali, 90, Indian Kannada poet
• *Miroslav Nemirov, 54, Russian poet
• March 5 – Rafael Squirru, 90, Argentine author, art critic and poet
• April 13 – Jock Scot, 63, Scottish performance poet
• April 30 – Daniel Berrigan, 94, American Jesuit priest, poet, peace activist and recidivist ; 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..
• June 30 – Sir Geoffrey Hill, 84, English poet

  July – December

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