2006 in poetry

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

Events

January – The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Cultural Foundation, founded by the Kyoto, Japan, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, opens the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Hall of Fame, dedicated to the anthology of 100 poems by 100 poets compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in c. 1235. The popularity of the anthology endures, and a Japanese card game, Uta-garuta, uses cards with the poems printed on it.
March 29 – The Poetry Bookshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is sold.
May – The Poetry Out Loud recitation contest is created this year by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation in the United States to increase awareness in the art of performing poetry, with a top prize a $20,000 scholarship. State finalists perform in Washington, D.C. during the second week of the month.
July 14
* Kazakh poet Aron Atabek is arrested after riot police and bulldozers arrive at the shanty town of Shanyrak, Kazakhstan for its demolition. Atabek is sentenced to 18 years in prison for alleged offences relating to the clash this day between protesters and police.
* The Times Literary Supplement reports on the discovery of a missing copy of Shelley's Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things, an 1811 pamphlet containing a 172-line poem which criticizes war, politics and religion; although published anonymously, the poem is thought to have contributed to the rebel poet's expulsion from the University of Oxford.
August 15 – The existence of two early poems by Ted Hughes, written into a school exercise book, is announced; one an early version of "Song" which appeared in his first collection.
November 1 – A Sylvia Plath sonnet from her college years is discovered and first published by Blackbird, an online literary journal run by the English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
November 10 – A new series, "The Best of Irish Poetry" is launched by Southword Editions in Ireland with the 80-page The Best of Irish Poetry 2007 The project is under the direction of Patrick Cotter, with Colm Breathnach as Irish-language editor and Maurice Riordan as English-language editor. "Quite often readers abroad are presented with a selection of Irish poets restricted to those who are first published in the USA or the UK," Cotter wrote. "This annual series will present a more general selection generated by more informed pundits."
November – The most influential American poets of all time are Walt Whitman, T. S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens and Sylvia Plath, according to Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine. Wiman names the poets in a sidebar article to a December The Atlantic Monthly cover story about the "100 Most Influential Americans" — no poet makes it on that larger list.
French public notary Patrick Huet unveils Pieces of Hope to the Echo of the World in Lyon. It is reportedly the longest modern hand-written poem in the world.BLATT, an English-language literary magazine and publishing imprint is started in Prague, Czech Republic.
Pakistani poet Ahmed Faraz, who writes in Urdu, returns one of his country's highest civilian honors, the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, out of disgust with President Pervez Musharraf's government. The prize had been awarded to the poet in 2004 for his literary achievements. "My conscience will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us", he said. "The least I can do is to let the dictatorship know where it stands in the eyes of the concerned citizens, whose fundamental rights have been usurped."

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

See also 2006 in Australian literature

Robert Adamson The Goldfinches of Baghdad
Ken Babstock, Airstream Land Yacht,
Laurie Duggan, The Passenger, winner of the 2007 Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award; St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press
Stephen Edgar, Other Summers, 108 pp; named a "Book of the Year" by The Age; Melbourne: Black Pepper,
Brook Emery, At a Slight Angle: And Other Poems, Picaro Press.
Robert Gray, Nameless Earth
Jennifer Harrison: Folly & Grief
Dennis Haskell, All the Time in the World
Judy Johnson, Jack
S. K. Kelen, Earthly Delights
Chris Mansell, Love poems
Graeme Miles, Phosphorescence
Les Murray, The Biplane Houses
Dorothy Porter, The Best Australian Poems 2006,
Mark Reid, A Difficult Faith
Thomas Shapcott, The City of Empty Rooms
Craig Sherborne, Necessary Evil, Black Inc.,
John Tranter, Urban Myths: 210 Poems
rob walker, "micromacro"
Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Then
Simon West, First Names
Fay Zwicky, ''Picnic''

Canada

Margaret Avison, Momentary Dark
Elizabeth Bachinsky, Home of Sudden Service
Ven Begamudré, The Lightness Which Is Our World, Seen from Afar
Earle Birney, One Muddy Hand: Selected Poems, Sam Solecki ed. Posthumous.
Dionne Brand, Inventory
George Elliott Clarke, Black, Vancouver: Polestar,
Wayne Clifford, The Book of Were
Leonard Cohen, Book of Longing
Jon Paul Fiorentino, The Theory of the Loser Class
Maxine Gadd, Backup to Babylon
Matthew Holmes, Hitch, a first volume
Anita Lahey, Out to Dry in Cape Breton
Elizabeth Mayne, A Passionate Continuity
Don McKay:
* Strike/Slip winner of the 2007 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize
* Field Marks: The Poetry of Don McKay edited by Méira Cook
Garry Thomas Morse, Transversals for Orpheus
Michael Ondaatje, The Story, Toronto: House of Anansi,
P. K. Page, Hand Luggage: A Memoir in Verse
Sina Queyras, Lemon Hound
Angela Rawlings, Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists
Raymond Souster:
* Down to Earth Battered Silicon Dispatch Box.
* Wondrous Wobbly World: Poems for the New Millennium.
* Uptown Downtown Battered Silicon Dispatch Box.
Nathalie Stephens, Touch to Affliction
Sharon Thesen, ''The Good Bacteria''

India, in English

Keki Daruwalla, Collected poems, 1970–2005, New Delhi and New York City : Penguin Books
Anjum Hasan, Street on the Hill, New Delhi : Sahitya Akademi.
Meena Kandasamy, Touch, Mumbai : Peacock Books
Suniti Namjoshi, Sycorax: New Fables and Poems, Penguin India, New Delhi, 2006.
Robin Ngangom, The Desire of Roots, Cuttack : Chandrabhaga
E.V. Ramakrishnan, Terms of Seeing: New and Selected Poems,, New Delhi: Konark Publishers,,
Udaya Narayana Singh, Second Person Singular, translated from the original Maithili of the author's Madhyampurush Ekvachan by the author and Rizio Yohanan Raj; New Delhi : Katha

Ireland

Vona Groarke, Juniper Street, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, Ireland
Seamus Heaney, District and Circle, Faber & Faber; Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Maurice Riordan and Colm Breathnach, editors, Best of Irish Poetry 2007 selections from 50 Irish poets, including Eavan Boland, Seamus Heaney, Thomas McCarthy, Paul Muldoon, Paul Durcan, Eamon Grennan, Vona Groarke, Thomas Kinsella, Michael Longley, Dorothy Molloy, Gerry Murphy, Katie Donovan, Matthew Sweeney, Derek Mahon, Gabriel Rosenstock, Louis De Paor, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill Ireland
Justin Quinn, Waves and Trees, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press

New Zealand

Airini Beautrais Secret Heart, Victoria University Press
Glenn Colquhoun, Playing God
Janet Frame, The Goose Bath, posthumous
Bill Manhire, Lifted
Cilla McQueen, A Wind Harp
Alison Wong, Cup, Publisher: Steele Roberts

Poets in ''Best New Zealand Poems''

Poems from these 25 poets were selected by John Newton for Best New Zealand Poems 2015, published online this year:

United Kingdom

Carol Ann Duffy and Jane Ray, The Lost Happy Endings, Penguin
James Fenton:
* Selected Poems Penguin
* Editor, The New Faber Book of Love Poems
John Haynes (poet), Letter to Patience, a book-length poem in iambic pentameter, in the form of a letter from a Nigerian father in Britain to his friend back in Nigeria; winner of the Costa Book Award
Seamus Heaney, District and Circle, Faber & Faber; Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Allison Hedge Coke – Blood Run, Salt Publications
Geoffrey Hill: Without Title
Derek Mahon, Adaptations Gallery Press
Roger Moulson, Waiting for the Night-Rowers, Enitharmon Press, winner of the 2006 Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize
Sean O'Brien, Inferno: a verse version of Dante's Inferno
Robin Robertson, Swithering, winner of the 2006 Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize
Claire Tomalin, Thomas Hardy, Penguin Press, one of The New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year" for 2007
Hugo Williams, Dear Room,

Poets included in ''New Writing 14''

This book of British writing, edited by Lavinia Greenlaw and Helon Habila, contains short stories, essays and excerpts of novels in addition to poems by these poets:

United States

A. R. Ammons, Selected Poems, American Poets Project of the Library of America; distributed by Penguin Putnam, posthumous
Renée Ashley, The Museum of Lost Wings
Bruce Beasley, The Corpse Flower: New and Selected Poems, University of Washington Press,
Robin Becker, Domain of Perfect Affection, Pittsburgh University Press
Elizabeth Bishop, Edgar Allan Poe & The Juke-Box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts, and Fragments, Alice Quinn, editor, posthumous
Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems
Hayden Carruth, Toward the Distant Islands: New and Selected Poems, Copper Canyon Press, edited by Sam Hamill
Jared Carter, Cross this Bridge at a Walk, Wind Publications.
Carson Cistulli Some Common Weaknesses Illustrated, Casagrande Press.
Hart Crane, Hart Crane: Complete Poems and Selected Letters, edited by Langdon Hammer, Library of America
Robert Creeley, On Earth: Last Poems and an Essay
Dick Davis, Trick of Sunlight, Swallow Press
Michael Dumanis and Cate Marvin, Editors, Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century
Daisy Fried, My Brother Is Getting Arrested Again, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry
Jack Gilbert, Tough Heaven: Poems of Pittsburgh, Transgressions: Selected Poems
Allen Ginsberg, Collected Poems, 1947–1997, one of the New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year", an expanded edition of the 1984 Collected Poems, 1947–1980
Jesse Glass, The Passion of Phineas Gage and Selected Poems
Eugene Gloria, Hoodlum Birds, Penguin
Louise Glück, Averno, one of the New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year"
Linda Gregg, In the Middle Distance, Graywolf
Donald Hall, White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1946–2006
Suheir Hammad, ZataarDiva, book and CD
Jim Harrison, Saving Daylight
Seamus Heaney, District and Circle, Farrar Straus & Giroux
Allison Hedge Coke – Blood Run, US edition
George Heym, Poems, named as one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post
Paul Hoover, Edge and Fold
Frieda Hughes, Forty-Five
Troy Jollimore, Tom Thomson in Purgatory, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry
Patricia Spears Jones, Femme du Monde: Poems,
Mary Karr, Sinners Welcome: Poems
Ariana-Sophia M. Kartsonis, Intaglio, Kent State
Galway Kinnell, Strong Is Your Hold, the poet's first collection of new poems in more than a decade, one of the New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year"
Thomas Kinsella, Collected Poems: 1956–2001, Wake Forest
Kei Miller, Kingdom of Empty Bellies, Jamaican poet published in the United States:
Hannah Nijinsky and John Most, Persephone
Alice Notley, Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems 1970–2005
Mary Oliver, Thirst
Carl Phillips, Riding Westward, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
George Quasha, Axial Stones: An Art of Precarious Balance, foreword Carter Ratcliff
Ishmael Reed, New and Collected Poems, 1964–2006, one of the New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year"
Lisa Robertson, The Men: A Lyric Book
Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke, compiled by David Wagoner from "277 spiral notebooks of poetry fragments, aphorisms, jokes, memos, journal entries, random phrases, bits of dialog, commentary, and fugitive miscellany", Copper Canyon Press,
Miltos Sachtouris, Poems , bilingual edition, Greek with English translation by Karen Emmerich, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry
Frederick Seidel, Ooga-Booga,, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry
Julie Sheehan, Orient Point: Poems,
Patricia Smith, Teahouse of the Almighty: Poems, selected by Ed Sanders
W.D. Snodgrass, Not For Specialists, New and Selected Poems,, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry
Mark Strand, Man and Camel by a Canadian native long living in and published in the United States
Rosmarie Waldrop, Splitting Image, Curves to the Apple
Alicia E. Vasquez, 1719 Union St.
Eliot Weinberger, Muhammed,
Dara Wier, Remnants of Hannah, Wave Books
C.K. Williams, Collected Poems
George Witte, The Apparitioners, Three Rail Press
Charles Wright, Scar Tissue,
Franz Wright, God's Silence
Robert Wrigley, Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems, Penguin
Louis Zukofsky, Selected Poems, American Poets Project of the Library of America, distributed by Penguin Putnam; posthumous
Jesse Lee Kercheval, ''Film History As Train Wreck''

Anthologies in the United States

Harold Bloom and Jesse Zuba, editors, American Religious Poems: An Anthology, Library of America
Michael Hofmann, editor, Twentieth-Century German Poetry: An Anthology
Joy Katz and Kevin Prufer, editors, Dark Horses: Poets on Overlooked Poems, 76 poems, each selected by a poet who was asked to provide an "unknown or underappreciated poem written by anyone, in any language, from any era", along with a brief essay by the selecting poet about the poem each chose; Illinois University Press
Jeb Livingood, series editor; Eric Pankey, editor, Best New Poets 2006: 50 Poems from Emerging Writers, Samovar
Anne Marie Hacht, ''Poetry for Students, Volume 23''

Poets included in ''The Best American Poetry 2006''

Poets included in The Best American Poetry 2006, edited by David Lehman, co-edited this year by Billy Collins:

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States

Jason Shinder, editor, “The Poem That Changed America: 'Howl' Fifty Years Later, essays on Allen Ginsberg's poem, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Other

Chandrashekhar Bhattacharya, Tomake Ebong Tomake: Poems , Bangladesh
Claude Esteban, Le Jour à peine écrit , Gallimard, France
Mohit Kailashnath Misra, "Ponder Awhile"

Works published in other languages

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

Czech Republic

Michal Ajvaz, Padesát pět měst
Petr Král, Hm čili Míra omylu, 2006
Michal Šanda, Kecanice, Prague: Protis,
Marie Šťastná, Akty, Czech Republic
Ivan Wernisch, Michal Šanda and Milan Ohnisko, Býkárna, Druhé město Brno,

French language

Canada

Claude Beausoliel, Regarde, tu vois, Le Castor Astral

France

Léopold Sédar Senghor, Œuvre poétique, éd. Le Seuil – Points.
Jacques Roubaud, Cœurs, La Bibliothèque oulipienne n°155
Jean Max Tixier, Les silences du passeur, publisher: Le Taillis pré
Linda Maria Baros, La Maison en lames de rasoir, Cheyne éditeur

Germany

Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Norbert Hummelt, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2007, publisher: S. Fischer Verlag; anthology
Hendrik Jackson. Dunkelströme Kookbooks, 72 pages,
Christoph Janacs, Unverwandt den Schatten ; St. Georgs Presse
Christoph Ransmayr, Der fliegende Berg, a novel-poem Austria
Monika Rinck, Ah, das Love-Ding, illustrated by Andreas Topfer, Kookbooks, 160 pages,

India

Listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Amarjit Chandan, Annjall, Lokgeet, Chandigarh; Punjabi
Bharat Majhi; Oriya:
* Murtikar Bhubaneswar: Pen In, Bhubaneswar
* Mahanagara Padya, Bhubaneswar: Pratchi Prakasani
Jayanta Mahapatra, Samparka, Natuna Dilli: Sāhitya Akādemi; Bengali-language
K. Satchidanandan, Malayalam:
* Satchidanandte Kavithakal, selected poems, 1965–2005
* Anantam
* Onnaam Padham
K. Siva Reddy, Mithi Ka Pukar, translated into Hindi from the original Telugu by Narasa Reddy), Hyderabad: Milind Prakashan
Kanaka Ha Ma, Arabi Kadalu, Sagara, Karnataka: Akshara Prakashana; Kannada
Namdeo Dhasal, Tujhe Bot Dharoon Chalalo Ahe Mee; Marathi
Nirendranath Chakravarti, Jyotsnaye Ekela, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; BengaliPrem ke Roopak, New Delhi: Vani Prakashan,, anthology, Hindi-language

Poland

Marcin Baran, Sprzeczne fagmenty
Stanisław Barańczak, Wiersze zebrane, Krakow: a5
Wojciech Bonowicz, Pełne morze
Ewa Lipska, Drzazga, Krakow: Wydawnictwo literackie
Czesław Miłosz, Wiersze ostatnie, Kraków: Znak
Marta Podgórnik, Dwa do jeden
Tomasz Różycki, Kolonie, 77 poems, 86 pp, Kraków: Znak,
Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz, Do widzenia gawrony, Warsaw: Sic!
Marcin Świetlicki, Muzyka środka
Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, Poezja jako miejsce na ziemi.
Jan Twardowski, Kilka myśli o cierpieniu, przemijaniu i odejściu Poznan: Księgarnia Św. Wojciecha

Russia

Yelena Fanaylova, Russkaya versiya
Lev Losev,, biography of Joseph Brodsky, a friend of the author, Russia
Alexander Mezhirov, Артиллерия бьёт по своим, Moscow: publisher: Zebra E
Aleksey Tsvetkov, Shekspir otdykhaet
Dmitry Vodennikov, Chernovik
Igor Vishnevetsky, На запад солнца
Ivan Zhdanov, a book of selected works

Other languages

Klaus Høeck, Heartland, publisher: Gyldendal; Denmark Denmark
Duo Yo, Duo Yu shixuan, China

Awards and honors

International

Australia

C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry:
Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize: Friendly Fire by Jennifer Maiden
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry:

Canada

Archibald Lampman Award: Laura Farina, This Woman Alphabetical
Atlantic Poetry Prize: Anne Compton, Processional
Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate: John Steffler
Governor General's Literary Awards: John Pass, Stumbling in the Bloom ; Hélène Dorion, Ravir: les lieux
Gerald Lampert Award: Suzanne Buffam, Past Imperfect
Griffin Poetry Prize : Sylvia Legris, Nerve Squall
Griffin Poetry Prize : Kamau Brathwaite, Born to Slow Horses
Pat Lowther Award: Sylvia Legris, Nerve Squall
Prix Alain-Grandbois: Fernand Ouellette, L'Inoubliable
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: Meredith Quartermain, Vancouver Walking
Prix Émile-Nelligan: Maude Smith Gagnon, ''Une tonne d'air''

New Zealand

Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
Montana New Zealand Book Awards
* Poetry: Bill Manhire, Lifted, Victoria University Press
* NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry: Karlo Mila, Dream Fish Floating. Huia Publishers

United Kingdom

Forward Poetry Prize Best Collection: Robin Robertson for Swithering.
Forward Poetry Prize Best First Collection: Tishani Doshi, for Countries of the Body.
Forward Poetry Prize Best Single Poem: Sean O'Brien, for "Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright".
T. S. Eliot Prize : Seamus Heaney, for District and Circle
Costa Book Awards for poetry: John Haynes for Letter to Patience
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Fleur Adcock

United States

Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to Nancy Krygowski for Velocity
American Academy of Arts and Letters: poets Paul Auster and Frank Bidart elected to the Literature Department
Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize awarded to Gabriel Gomez for The Outer Bands
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: Donald Hall appointed
Poet Laureate of Virginia: Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, two year appointment 2006 to 2008
Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Awards: Moira Linehan, If No Moon
James Laughlin Award for poetry: Tracy K. Smith
National Book Award for poetry: Nathaniel Mackey, Splay Anthem, New Directions
* Finalists: Louise Glück, Averno, Farrar, Straus & Giroux; H.L. Hix, Chromatic, Etruscan Press; Ben Lerner, Angle of Yaw, Copper Canyon Press; James McMichael, Capacity, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
National Poetry Review Book Prize: Bryan Penberthy, Lucktown.
Poets' Prize: Catherine Tufariello, Keeping My Name
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry : Claudia Emerson, Late Wife; and Poet Laureate of Virginia 2008 to 2010
Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award: John Hollander
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Richard Wilbur
Whiting Awards: Sherwin Bitsui, Tyehimba Jess, Suji Kwock Kim
Wallace Stevens Award: Michael Palmer
Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition: Jessica Fisher, Frail-Craft; Judge: Louise Glück
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Carl Phillips

From the Poetry Society of America

Frost Medal: Maxine Kumin
Shelley Memorial Award: George Stanley (poet), Judges: Sonia Sanchez, Joshua Clover
Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award: Nicole Cooley, "The Anatomical Museum", Judge: Gerald Stern
Cecil Hemley Memorial Award: Rusty Morrison, "Sky Clutches Any Strong Beat", Judge: Cal Bedient
Lanan Literary Award for Poetry: Bruce Weigl
Lyric Poetry Award: Alice Jones, "Valle D'Aosta", Judge: Toi Derricotte
Lucille Medwick Memorial Award: Lynne Knight, "Recovery", Judge: Grace Schulman
* Finalists: Amy Dryansky, Somewhere Honey from Those Bees; J.C. Todd, What's Left;
* Finalists: John Isles, The Arcadia Negotiations; Wayne Miller, The Book of Props; Emily Rosko, Weather Inventions; Judge: Forrest Gander
Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award: Katherine Browning, "to discover the cartography of blankness", Judge: Prageeta Sharma
George Bogin Memorial Award: Kevin Prufer
* Finalists: Susan Briante, Jill McDonough, Judge: Marie Howe
Robert H. Winner Memorial Award: Daneen Wardrop, Archicembalo, Judge: Jean Valentine
Norma Farber First Book Award: Cammy Thomas, Cathedral of Wish, Judge: Medbh McGuckian
William Carlos Williams Award: Brenda Hillman, Pieces of Air in the Epic, Judge: Marjorie Welish
* Finalists: Ethan Paquin, The Violence ; Aaron Shurin, ''Involuntary Lyrics''

Other awards and honors

Deaths

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