2003 in poetry

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Events

January 29 – Poet Dana Gioia, who had retired early from his career as a corporate executive at General Foods to write full-time, becomes chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States government's arts agency.
February 12 – After First Lady Laura Bush invites a number of poets to the White House for this date, one of them, Sam Hamill, starts organizing a protest in which poets would bring anti-war poems. The conference is postponed, but Hamill organizes a "Poets Against the War" Web site with contributions from others. More than 5,000 poems are contributed, including work by John Balaban, Gregory Orr, Rita Dove, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Adrienne Rich, Stanley Kunitz, Marilyn Nelson, Jay Parini, Jamaica Kincaid, Grace Paley and U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Also on the Web site, W. S. Merwin contributes the statement: "To arrange a war in order to be re-elected outdoes even the means employed in the last presidential election. Mr. Bush and his plans are a greater danger to the United States than Saddam Hussein." The new group, "Poets Against the War", organizes poetry readings for February 12 across the country, demonstrating the strong links between many established poets and left-wing pacifism.
July 2 – In the aftermath of public controversy ignited by state poet laureate Amiri Baraka reading his incendiary and anti-Semitic poem "Somebody Blew Up America" about the September 11th Attacks, and Baraka's subsequent refusals to resign from the position, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey signs legislation abolishing the post of Poet Laureate of New Jersey.
Early November – Carl Rakosi celebrates his 100th birthday with friends at the San Francisco Public Library.
The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry is opened at Queens University, Belfast, this year. It houses the Heaney Media Archive, a unique record of Heaney's entire oeuvre, as well as a full catalogue of his radio and television presentations. This same year Heaney decides to lodge a substantial portion of his literary archive at Emory University.Call: Review, an American little magazine, is founded by poet John Most.

Works published in English

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Australia

Judith Beveridge, Wolf Notes, winner of the 2004 Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award
Pam Brown, Dear Deliria, winner of the 2004 NSW Premier's Award for Poetry.
Laurie Duggan, Mangroves
Brook Emery, Misplaced Heart, Five Islands Press.
John Kinsella, Peripheral Light
Alison Croggon, The Common Flesh: Poems 1980–2002, Arc,
Geoff Page, editor The Indigo Book of Modern Australian Sonnets, Indigo
Chris Wallace-Crabbe, A Representative Human, Brunswick: Gungurru Press

Canada

Derek Beaulieu, with wax
George Bowering, Baseball: A Poem in the Magic Number 9
Di Brandt, Now You Care
Anne Compton, Opening the Island
Joe Denham, Flux
Jill Hartman, A Painted Elephant
Raymond Knister, After Exile. complete poems compiled by Gregory Betts
Dennis Lee, Un. Toronto: Anansi.
Tim Lilburn, Kill-site, winner of the Governor General's Award
Don McKay, Varves, a chapbook
W.W.E. Ross, Irrealities, Sonnets & Laconics.
Anne Simpson Loop, shortlisted for the 2003 Governor General's Award, winner of the 2004 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize,
Raymond Souster, Twenty-three New Poems. Ottawa: Oberon Press.
Nathalie Stephens, Paper City
Suzanne Zelazo, ''Parlance''

India, in English

Hemant Divate, Virus Alert, translated from the original Marathi language poetry- by Dilip Chitre; Mumbai : Poetrywala
Jerry Pinto, Asylum and Other Poems, Allied Publishers,
Sudeep Sen:
* Distracted Geography: An Archipelago of Intent, Wings Press, ; Leeds: Peepal Tree, ;
* Prayer Flag with a compact disc and photographs; New York : Wings Press, 2003, ; Leeds: Peepal Tree,
Sachin Ketkar, A Dirge for the Dead Dog and other Incantations, New Delhi : Sanbun Publishers
Ajmer Rode, Selected Poems, by a Punjabi; Third Eye Publications,

Ireland

Rosita Boland, Dissecting the Heart, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
Ciaran Carson, Breaking News, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
Michael Coady, One Another,, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
Gerald Dawe, Lake Geneva, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,

New Zealand

Jenny Bornholdt, Summer
Robin Hyde, Young Knowledge: the poems of Robin Hyde, edited and introduced by Michele Leggott, Auckland: Auckland University Press, posthumous

Poets in ''Best New Zealand Poems''

Poems from these 25 poet s were selected by Elizabeth Smither for Best New Zealand Poems 2002, published online this year:

United Kingdom

Gerry Cambridge, Madame Fi Fi's Farewell and other poems, Luath Press,
Vahni Capildeo, No Traveller Returns, Caribbean poet
Ciarán Carson, Breaking News, Gallery Press, Wake Forest University Press, awarded the 2003 Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection
Carol Ann Duffy, The Good Child's Guide to Rock N Roll, Faber and Faber
James Fenton, The Love Bomb, verse written as a libretto for a composer who rejected it; Penguin / Faber and Faber
Lavinia Greenlaw, Minsk, Faber and Faber
Peter Redgrove, Sheen
Simawe, Saadi, editor, Iraqi Poetry Today, London: King's College,

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom

R. F. Foster, W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939, Oxford University Press
Matthew Campbell, editor, The Cambridge Companion to Contemporary Irish Poetry, Cambridge University Press

United States

Dick Allen, The Day Before: New Poems
Mark Bibbins, Sky Lounge
Charles Bukowski, sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way
Henri Cole, Middle Earth ; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
Cid Corman, Now/Now
Annie Finch, Calendars
Richard Greenfield, A Carnage in the Lovetress
John Hollander, Picture Window
William Logan, Macbeth in Venice
Howard Nemerov, The Selected Poems of Howard Nemerov, edited by Daniel Anderson ; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
Mary Oliver, Owls and Other Fantasies: poems and essays
Willie Perdomo, Smoking Lovely
James Reiss, Riff on Six: New and Selected Poems
Kenneth Rexroth, Complete Poems
Margaret Reynolds, The Sappho History, Palgrave Macmillan,
C. J. Sage, editor, And We The Creatures: Fifty-one Contemporary American Poets on Animal Rights and Appreciation
Charles Simic, The Voice at 3:00 a.m.: Selected Late & New Poems ; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
Tracy K. Smith, The Body's Question won the 2002 Cave Canem Prize for best first book by an African American poet
Rosmarie Waldrop, Love, Like Pronouns
William Carlos Williams and Louis Zukofsky, The Correspondence of William Carlos Williams & Louis Zukofsky, edited by Barry Ahearn
Kirby Wright, Before the City ; winner of the San Diego Book Award for Poetry

Poets included in ''The Best American Poetry 2003''

The 75 poets included in The Best American Poetry 2003, edited by David Lehman, co-edited this year by Yusef Komunyakaa:

Works published in other languages

French language

France

Seyhmus Dagtekin, Couleurs démêlées du ciel, publisher: L'Harmattan; Kurdish Turkish poet writing in French
Abdellatif Laabi, Moroccan author writing in French:
* L'automne promet, La Différence, coll. Clepsydre, Paris
* Les Fruits du corps, La Différence, coll. Clepsydre, Paris
* Œuvre poétique, La Différence, coll. Œuvre complète, Paris

Canada, in French

Denise Desautels, La marathonienne, avec estampes de Maria Cronopoulos, Montréal: Éditions de la courte échelle
2003 * Jean Royer, Demeures du silence, Trois-Rivières: Écrits des Forges / Esch-sur-Alzette: Éditions Phi

Germany

Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Michael Krueger, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2004, publisher: Beck; anthology
Daniel Falb, Daniela Seel, and Andrew Potterof, die räumung dieser parks, Kookbooks
Bjoern Kuligk and Jan Wagner, editors, Lyrik von Jetzt, publisher: Dumont Verlag, featuring poetry by 74 authors born since 1965 followed in 2008

Bengali language

Bangladesh

Chandan Chowdhury, Jabe he majhi, diksonnopur, Balaka prakash, Chittagong, Bangladesh

India

In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Bengali

Debarati Mitra, Khonpa Bhare Achhe Tarar Dhuloy, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; India, Bengali-language
Mallika Sengupta:
* Purushke Lekha Chithi, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers
* Editor, Dui Banglar Meyeder Shreshtha kabita, Kolkata: Upasana
Nirendranath Chakravarti, Bhalobasha Mondobasha, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; Bengali-language
Udaya Narayana Singh, Kham-kheyali, Kolkata: Ebang Mushayera

Other in India

Gagan Gill, Thapak Thapak Dil Thapak Thapa, New Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan; Punjabi-language
Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, editor, Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from the Northeast, North-Eastern Hill University; Kahsi-language
Kanaka Ha Ma, translator, Battalike, a translation of Javed Akhtar's Tarkash from the original Urdu into Kannada; Puttur, Karnataka: Karnataka Sangha
Kutti Revathi, Thanimaiyin Aayiram Irakkaigal, Chennai: Panikkudam Pathippagam; Tamil-language
Malathi Maithri, Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu,, Nagercoil: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam; Tamil-language
Nilmani Phookan, Alop Agota Ami Ki Kotha Pati Ashilo, Guwahati, Assam: Students’ Store, Assamese-language
Rajendra Kishore Panda; Oraya-language:
* Collected Poems – Sada Prusthha, Bhubaneswar: Metanym, Oraya-language
* Drohavakya, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
* Dujanari, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
* Vairagi Bhramar, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
* Satyottara, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
* Bahwarambhe, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
S. Joseph, Meenkaran, Kottayam: DC Books, ; Malayalam-language
Salma, Pachchai Devathai, Nagercoil: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam; Tamil-language
Saroop Dhruv, Gujarati-language:
* Hastkshep, Ahmedabad: Samvedan Sanskritic Manch, Ahmedabad
* Sahiyara Suraj Ni Khoj Ma, Ahmedabad: Samvedan Sanskritic Manch
Thangjam Ibopishak Singh, Manam, Imphal: Writer's Forum; Meitei language poet and academic
Rustam, Rustam ki Kavitaen, a collection of poetry in Hindi,, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi.

Poland

Ewa Lipska, Ja ; Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie
Bronisław Maj, Elegie, treny, sny; Kraków: Znak
Czesław Miłosz, Orfeusz i Eurydyka ; Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie
Tomasz Różycki, Świat i Antyświat, Warsaw: Lampa i Iskra Boża
Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki:
* Daleko stąd zostawiłem swoje dawne i niedawne ciało
* Przyczynek do nauki o nieistnieniu
Adam Zagajewski, Powrót, Kraków: a5
Wisława Szymborska: ''Rymowanki dla dużych dzieci''

Other languages

Pope John Paul II, Roman Triptych. Meditations, Polish poet published in the Vatican City and in Italian translation
Inga Kuznetsova, Sni-Sinitsi, winner of the Triumph youth prize and the Moscow Score Award for best first book; Russia
Marie Šťastná, Krajina s Ofélií, Czech Republic
Yi Sha, Yi Sha shixuan, China

Awards and honors

Australia

C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Emma Lew, Anything the Landlord Touches
Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize: Mangroves by Laurie Duggan, University of Queensland Press
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry: Stephen Edgar, Lost in the Foreground, Duffy & Snellgrove
Ipswich Poetry Feast: RT Edwards Awards – Open - Other Poetry First Prize, Denis Kevans, Dots Before the Eyes; Chairperson's Encouragement Award, Dan O’Donnell, Sydney's Central Station
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jill Jones, ''Screens Jets Heaven''

Canada

Gerald Lampert Award: Kathy Mac, Nail Builders Plan for Strength and Growth
Archibald Lampman Award: Shane Rhodes, Holding Pattern
Atlantic Poetry Prize: Anne Compton, Opening the Island
Governor General's Award for English-language poetry: Tim Lilburn, Kill-site
Governor General's Award for French-language poetry: Pierre Nepveu, Lignes aériennes
Griffin Poetry Prize Canada: Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot; International, in the English Language: Paul Muldoon, Moy sand and gravel
Pat Lowther Award: Dionne Brand, thirsty
Prix Alain-Grandbois: Danielle Fournier, Poèmes perdus en Hongrie
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: bill bissett,
Prix Émile-Nelligan: Jean-Simon DesRochers, ''Parle seul''

New Zealand

Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
Montana New Zealand Book Awards First-book award for poetry: Kay McKenzie Cooke, Feeding the Dogs, University of Otago Press

United Kingdom

Cholmondeley Award: Ciaran Carson, Michael Donaghy, Lavinia Greenlaw, Jackie Kay
David Cohen Prize: Thom Gunn
Eric Gregory Award: Jen Hadfield, Zoë Brigley, Paul Batchelor, Olivia Cole, Sasha Dugdale, Anna Woodford
Forward Poetry Prize Best Collection: Ciaran Carson, Breaking News ; Best First Collection: A. B. Jackson, Fire Stations
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: U. A. Fanthorpe
T. S. Eliot Prize : Don Paterson, Landing Light
Whitbread Award for poetry: Mark Haddon, ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''

United States

Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to David Shumate for High Water Mark
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, W.S. Merwin
Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry, Julie Sheehan for “Brown-headed Cow Birds”
Bollingen Prize for Poetry, Adrienne Rich
Brittingham Prize in Poetry, Brian Teare, The Room Where I Was Born
Frost Medal: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
National Book Award for poetry: C.K. Williams, The Singing
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: Louise Glück appointed
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry : Paul Muldoon, Moy Sand and Gravel
Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award: George T. Wright
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Linda Pastan
Wallace Stevens Award: Richard Wilbur
Whiting Awards: Major Jackson
William Carlos Williams Award: Gary Young, No Other Life, Judge: Angela Jackson
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Li-Young Lee

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding " in poetry" article:

March 16 – Susan McGowan, Australian poet
June 28 – Clem Christesen, Australian poet, founding editor of Meanjin
July 6 – Kathleen Raine, English poet and literary scholar
July 8 – Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Bengali poet
July 9 – Josephine Jacobsen, American poet, short story writer and critic
July 15 – Roberto Bolaño, 50, Chilean fiction writer, poet and essayist, liver disease
August 7 – F. T. Prince, South African-English poet and academic
September 3 – Alan Dugan, American poet
October 26 – Heinz Piontek, German writer
November 3 – Rasul Gamzatov, 80, Avarian/Soviet/Russian poet, "People's poet of Dagestan"
November 27 – Talal al-Rasheed, 41?, Saudi poet
December 12 – Fadwa Tuqan, 86, Palestinian poet
December 23 – John Newlove, Canadian poet