New York, NY -- Poets & Writers, Inc. is pleased to announce that
Harryette Mullen is the recipient of the fourth annual Jackson Poetry
Prize. The $50,000 prize honors an American poet of exceptional talent
who deserves wider recognition. The award is designed to provide what
all poets need -- time and the encouragement to write.
Ms. Mullen was selected by three esteemed judges: the poets Fanny Howe,
Ted Kooser, and C. K. Williams. There was no application process. Poets
were nominated by a panel of their peers who will remain anonymous.
The judges described Ms. Mullen's poems as "brilliant and enigmatic,
familiar and subversive. Like jewels, her poems are multifaceted and
shoot off lights. Mullen uses the techniques of sound association,
innuendo, and signifying, and this way makes the reader alert to the
cunning of the English language."
Mullen's books include Recyclopedia (Graywolf, 2006), Blues Baby: Early Poems (Bucknell University Press, 2002), Muse & Drudge (Signing Horse Press, 1995), S*PeRM**K*T (Singing Horse Press, 1992), and Trimmings (Tender Button Books, 1991). Her book Sleeping with the Dictionary
(University of California Press, 2002) was a finalist for the National
Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times
Book Award in poetry. She teaches African-American literature, American
poetry, and creative writing at the University of California, Los
Angeles. She has earned degrees in English and in literature from the
University of Texas, Austin, and the University of California, Santa
Cruz.
The previous recipients of the Jackson Poetry Prize are Linda Gregg
(2009), Tony Hoagland (2008), and Elizabeth Alexander (2007).
The Jackson Poetry Prize, which is sponsored by Poets & Writers,
Inc., was made possible by a significant donation from the Liana
Foundation and named for the John and Susan Jackson family.
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Photo Credit: Hank Lazer