Joy Harjo Honored With Jackson Poetry Prize

Poets & Writers has announced that Joy Harjo has been awarded the 2019 Jackson Poetry Prize. More from P&W:

The prize, endowed by John and Susan Jackson, is awarded annually by Poets & Writers to an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition. It carries a significant monetary award, increased this year to $65,000, and aims to provide what poets need: time and encouragement to write.

Upon learning that she had been selected as this year’s Jackson Poetry Prize winner, Harjo noted that she was particularly pleased to receive an award from Poets & Writers. “Poets & Writers has accompanied me on my whole journey to becoming a poet and a writer,” she said.

Judges for this year's prize included poets Ada Limón, Alicia Ostriker, and D. A. Powell. In their citation, they write:

Fueled by a deep musicality and the indelible spirit, the poems of Joy Harjo are at once voraciously inventive and powerfully human. An important American poet who deserves an even wider recognition, Harjo’s work speaks not only to the world we live in, but to the unseen world that moves through us, the thread that has connected us all from the start.

Read more about Harjo's work and the prize at Poets & Writers.