Marilyn Chin is this year's recipient of the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which honors "a living U.S. poet whose lifetime accomplishments warrant singular recognition." Saskia Hamilton was named winner of the $7,500 Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism. The awards are sponsored and administered by the Poetry Foundation, which publishes Poetry magazine, and will be presented at a virtual ceremony in September.
"Marilyn Chin and Saskia Hamilton have made invaluable contributions to literature through their work as poets, scholars, and educators," said Kate Coughlin, Poetry Foundation CFO. "Their shared commitment to craft and interrogation creates art that is deeply human; it is an honor to recognize their extraordinary accomplishments."
In addition, the Poetry Foundation is extending the tenure of current Young People's Poet Laureate, Naomi Shihab Nye, to 2022. The foundation noted that Nye "was awarded the honor and two-year term in 2019, but has had to cancel a number of her readings and programs due to the Covid-19 pandemic; the extension of her tenure allows for new initiatives to take the place of those that were cancelled and for Nye to maintain her commitment to celebrating poetry in geographically underserved and rural communities."