Griffin Poetry Prize is established, with one award given each year for the best work by a Canadian poet and one award given for best work in the English language internationally.February — Janice Mirikitani succeeds Lawrence Ferlinghetti as San Francisco's Poet LaureateApril 17 - New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman appoints poet Gerald Stern to be the first Poet Laureate of New JerseyOctober 3 — Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" named Britain's favorite children's poem in a BBC pollOctober 3 — Justin Trudeau quotes from Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods" at the funeral of his father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre TrudeauOctober 4 — National Poetry Day in Great Britain: 300 school children at the Royal Festival Hall along with 4,000 other people nationwide perform Agbabi's "Word," setting a new Guinness World Record for simultaneous mass performance of a poemSpike Milligan made an honorary knightIn the film Pandaemonium, released this year, the lives of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in particular their collaboration on the "Lyrical Ballads," are discussed.Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Les Murray:Learning Human: Selected Poems, Farrar Straus Giroux, also published as Learning Human, New Selected Poems, Carcanet, 2001shortlisted for the 2001 International Griffin Poetry PrizeAn Absolutely Ordinary RainbowChris Wallace-Crabbe, The Poems, Brunswick: GungurruLes Wicks, The Ways of Waves, SidewalkRoo Borson, Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei, ISBN 1-894078-09-8 (by Pain Not Bread) American-CanadianClint Burnham, Buddyland (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-022-2Margaret Christakos:Wipe Under A Love (Toronto: The Mansfield Press)Charisma (Toronto: Pedlar Press)George Elliott Clarke, Whylah Falls, Vancouver: Polestar, revised edition of book which originally appeared in 1990, ISBN 1-896095-50-X (revised edition number) CanadaLouis Dudek, The Surface of Time. Montreal: Empyreal.Claire Harris, She, Trinidadian-born, CanadianDon McKay, Another Gravity (Canada)John Pass, Water Stair (ISBN 0-88982-179-8) CanadaAnne Simpson, Light Falls Through You, winner of the Gerald Lampert Award and the Atlantic Poetry Prize) ISBN 0-7710-8077-8, CanadaRaymond Souster, Of Time & Toronto. Ottawa: Oberon Press.Ayanna Black, editor, Fiery Spirits & Voices: Canadian Writers of African Descent, Toronto: HarperPerennialCanadaWanda Campbell, editor, Susan Atkinson and Tanya Butler, assistant editors, Hidden Rooms: Early Canadian Women Poets, London, Ontario: Canadian Poetry PressSophia Kaszuba, Sian Meikle, and Ian Lancashire, editors, Canadian Poets University of Toronto English Library, including these poets:Milton Acorn, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Avison, Earle Birney, bill bissett, Marianne Bluger, Stephanie Bolster, Roo Borson, George Bowering, Dionne Brand, Ron Charach, Lesley Choyce, Peter Christensen, Afua Cooper, Don Coles, John Robert Colombo, Lynn Crosbie, Lorna Crozier, Michael Crummey, Jeffery Donaldson, Jennifer Footman, Sky Gilbert, Susan Glickman, Maureen Harris, Elisabeth Harvor, Jan Horner, Susan Ioannou, Ellen Jaffe, Adeena Karasick, Penn Kemp, A. M. Klein, Irving Layton, Noah Leznoff, Dennis Lee, Pat Lowther, Laura Lush, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Kim Maltman, Dave Margoshes, David W. McFadden, Susan McMaster, Bruce Meyer, Anne Michaels, Kim Morrissey, Erin Mouré, Susan Musgrave, John Newlove, P. K. Page, E. J. Pratt, Robert Priest, Janis Rapoport, Wayne Scott Ray, Michael Redhill, John Reibetanz, D. C. Reid, Harold Rhenisch, Stan Rogal, Linda Rogers, Joe Rosenblatt, Jay Ruzesky, Richard Sanger, F. R. Scott, Peter Dale Scott, Kathy Shaidle, Kenneth Sherman, Carolyn Smart, Sandy Shreve, John Steffler, nathalie stephens, Rosemary Sullivan, Robert Sward, Rhea Tregebov, Jane Urquhart, R. M. Vaughan, Fred Wah, Tom Wayman, Natalie Wilson, Eddy Yanofsky
Sujata Bhatt, Augatora ( Poetry in English ), Carcanet PressKeki Daruwalla, Night River ( Poetry in English ), New Delhi: Rupa & Co.Ranjit Hoskote, The Cartographer's Apprentice ( Poetry in English ), (with drawings by Laxman Shreshtha), Mumbai: The Pundole Art GalleryTabish Khair, Where Parallel Lines Meet ( Poetry in English ), New Delhi: Penguin-Viking, ISBN 978-0-670-89432-1; New York City: Allen Lane, ISBN 0-670-89432-XSudeep Sen:Almanac, Columbia: University of South CarolinaLines of Desire, Columbia: University of South CarolinaA Blank Letter, Dhaka: The High Commission of IndiaK. Satchidanandan, Imperfect and Other New Poems, Kozhikode, Kerala: Olive PublicationsDilip Chitre, No Moon Monday on the River Karha, Pune: Vijaya ChitreNew Zealand
Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963), Poems 1960–2000, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe BooksNick Ascroft, From the Author OfJenny Bornholdt, These DaysGlenn Colquhoun, An Explanation of Poetry to My FatherPaula Green, ChromeMurray Edmond, LaminationsAndrew Johnston, Birds of EuropeCilla McQueen, Markings, poetry and drawings, Otago University PressAnthologies in New Zealand
Jenny Bornholdt and Gregory O'Brien, editors, My Heart Goes Swimming: New Zealand Love Poems, Random House New Zealand ISBN 0-908877-81-1, ISBN 978-0-908877-81-2Alan Brunton, Murray Edmond, Michele Leggott, editors, Big Smoke: New Zealand Poems 1960–1975, Auckland: Auckland University PressLauris Edmond, editor, New Zealand Love Poems: An Oxford Anthology, posthumousFleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963), Poems 1960–2000, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe BooksGerry Cambridge, The Praise of Swans (pamphlet, 28 pp), Shoestring Press, ISBN 1-899549-49-8Robert Crawford and Mick Imlah, editors, The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Press ISBN 978-0-14-058711-1(anthology)Carol Ann Duffy, The Oldest Girl in the World, Faber and Faber (children's poetry)U. A. Fanthorpe, ConsequencesJames Fenton: The Strength of Poetry: Oxford LecturesJames Fenton (Ulster Scots poet), Thonner an Thon: an Ulster-Scots collection, Ulster Scots dialect poet living and published in Northern IrelandElaine Feinstein, Gold, CarcanetThom Gunn:Boss CupidCollected PoemsGlyn Maxwell, The Boys at Twilight: Poems, 1990–1995, Houghton Mifflin (a New York Times "notable book of the year"), Briton and poetry editor of The New Republic living in the United StatesCraig Raine, A la Recherche du Temps PerduPeter Reading, MarfanMaurice Riordan, Irish poet living and published in the United Kingdom:Floods, Faber and FaberEditor, with Jon Turney (a science journalist), A Quark for Mister Mark: 101 Poems about Science, anthology, Faber and FaberJo Shapcott, Her BookSulpicia, The Poems of Sulpicia, ancient Roman poet translated by John Heath-StubbsJohn Ashbery:Your Name HereAs Umbrellas Follow RainBei Dao, Unlock, English translation by Eliot Weinberger & Iona Man-Cheong (New Directions) ISBN 0-8112-1447-8Edward Brathwaite, Words Need Love Too, Barbadan poet living in the United StatesJoseph Brodsky: Collected Poems in English, 1972–1999, edited by Ann Kjellberg, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Russian-American; Farrar, Straus & Giroux (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Gwendolyn Brooks, In MontgomeryAnne Carson, Men in the Off Hours, Knopf (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Paul Celan, Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan (Translated by Heather McHugh and Nikolai Popov)Anita Endreszze, Throwing Fire at the Sun, Water at the Moon, combination of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona PressMichael S. Harper, Songlines in Michaeltree: New and Collected PoemsFanny Howe, Fanny Howe: Selected PoemsKenneth Koch, New Addresses: Poems, Knopf (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Stanley Kunitz, The Collected Poems, Norton (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Stanley Lombardo (translator), Odyssey by Homer, Hackett (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Glyn Maxwell, The Boys at Twilight: Poems, 1990–1995, Houghton Mifflin (a New York Times "notable book of the year"), Briton and poetry editor of The New Republic living in the United StatesConstance Merritt, A Protocol for Touch: Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry, selected by Eleanor WilnerW. S. Merwin, translation, Purgatorio from The Divine Comedy of Dante; New York: Knopf; (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Grazyna Miller, Sull'onda del respiro (On the Wave of Breath)Michael O'Brien, Sills: Selected Poems, ZolandMary Oliver, The Leaf and the Cloud (prose poem)Grace Paley, Begin Again: Collected PoemsMichael Palmer, The Promises of GlassCarl Phillips, PastoralRobert Pinsky, Jersey Rain (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Michael Ryan, A Difficult Grace: On Poets, Poetry, and Writing (essays)Gjertrud Schnackenberg:The Throne of Labdacus, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (a New York Times "notable book of the year")Supernatural Love: Poems 1976–1992, ISBN 0-374-52754-7Derek Walcott, The Prodigal (West Indian)Louis Zukofsky, Wesleyan University Press begins publishing The Wesleyan Centennial Edition of the Complete Critical Writings of Louis Zukofsky (posthumous)Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
John Ashbery, Other Traditions (Harvard University Press), thoughts on six poets (John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Raymond Roussel, John Wheelwright, Laura Riding, and David Schubert); from his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures (criticism) ISBN 978-0-674-00315-6 ISBN 0-674-00315-2Alison Lurie, Familiar Spirits: A Memoir of James Merrill and David JacksonHelen Vendler, Seamus Heaney, ISBN 0-674-00205-9Stephen Berg, David Bonanno, and Arthur Vogelsang, editors, The Body Electric, anthology of poetry published in The American Poetry Review, 1972–1999.(W.W. Norton & Company), 820 pagesAmerican Poetry: The Twentieth Century, two volumes, The Library of America (Henry Adams to May Swenson)Cary Nelson, editor, Anthology of Modern American Poetry, Oxford University Press (also published in the United Kingdom)Jeffrey Paine, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Sven Birkerts, Joseph Brodsky, Carolyn Forché, and Helen Vendler, editors, The Poetry of Our World: an International Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, New York: HarperCollinsThese 75 poets had poems published in The Best American Poetry 2000, edited by David Lehman, with Rita Dove as guest editor:
Edward Brathwaite, Words Need Love Too, Barbadan poet living in the United StatesMoya Cannon, Oar, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-263-9 IrelandClaire Harris, She, Trinidadian-born, CanadianListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Yang Ke, editor, 2000 Yearbook of New Chinese Poetry (Zhongguo xinshi nianjian) (anthology)Yu Jian, China:Shige • Biantiaoji (short poems)Yu Jian de shi (poems and translations)Klaus Høeck, fra Hjem, publisher: Gyldendal; DenmarkHenrik Nordbrandt:Drømmebroer ("Dream Bridges"), winner of the Nordic Council's Literature Prize (Denmark)Egne digte ("Own Poems"), Copenhagen: Gylendal, 289 pagesDenise Desautels, Tombeau de Lou, Montréal: Le NoroîtPierre Labrie, À tout hasardMadeleine Ouellette-Michalska, L'Amérique un peu/Au bord du rouge absolu, with James Sacré; Montréal: Trait d'unionJean Royer, Le visage des mots, Trois-Rivières: Écrits des Forges//Marchainville: ProverbeAndre du Bouchet, L'emportement du muetSeyhmus Dagtekin, Les chemins du nocturne, publisher: Le Castor AstralAbdellatif Laabi, Poèmes périssables, La Différence, coll. Clepsydre, Paris (épuisé), Moroccan author writing in French and published in FranceJean-Claude Pinson, Fado (avec fantomes et flacons)Jacqueline Risset, Les instantsIn each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Joy Goswami:Jogotbari, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, ISBN 81-7756-107-3Kabita-Songroho, Vol. 3, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, ISBN 81-7756-088-3Debarati Mitra:Tunnur Computer, Kolkata: Ananda PublishersSrestha Kavita, Kolkata: Dey's PublishingNirendranath Chakravarti; Bengali-language:Shakulley Teenjon, Kolkata: Ananda PublishersJoler Jailkhana Theke, Kolkata: Ananda PublishersAnamika, Kavita Mein Aurat, Delhi: Itihas BodhTeji Grover, Ant Ki Kucch Aur Kavitayen, New Delhi: Vani PrakashanUdayan Vajpeyi, Vie Invisible, translated and published in France; Lignon: Cheyne Editeur;Amarjit Chandan; Punjabi-language:Gurhti (in Persian script), Navyug, New DelhiAnaran vala Vehra (in Persian script), Kitab Tirinjan, LahoreChandrakant (Chandu) Shah, also known as Chandu Shah, Blue Jeans, Mumbai: Image Publications; Gujarati-languageJiban Narah, Ta-Ri-Ri, Guwahati, Assam: Bak; Indian, Assamese-languageK. Satchidanandan, Sambhashanathinu Oru Sramam, ("An Attempt to Converse"); Malayalam-languageK. Siva Reddy, Kavisamayam, Vijayawada: Sahiti Mitrulu; Telugu-languageKutti Revathi, Poonaiyai pola alaiyum velicham, ("Light Prowls Like a Cat"), Chennai: ThamizhiniS. Joseph, Karutha Kallu, winner of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award; Kottayam: DC Books, ISBN 81-264-0205-9Prathibha Nandakumar, Aha! Purushakaram! ("Aha! The Human Form!"), Srirangapattana, Mandya district, Karnataka: Nelamane PrakashanaSalma, Oru Maalaiyum Innoru Maalaiyum, Nagercoil: Kalachuvadu PathippagamVaravara Rao (better known as "VV"), Unnadedo Unnattu ("As It Is"); Telugu-languageRahman Henry, Prokrito Saros Urey Jae, A Book of Poetry in Bengali, Shraban, Shahbag, Dhaka. Bangladesh.Poland
Leszek Engelking, I inne wiersze (And Other Poems) PolandCzesław Miłosz, To ("It"); Kraków: ZnakEugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, Przewodnik dla bezdomnych niezależnie od miejsca zamieszkaniaJan Twardowski, Elementarz księdza Twardowskiego dla najmłodszego, średniaka i starszego, Kraków: Wydawnictwo LiterackieDejan Stojanović:Znak i njegova deca (The Sign and Its Children), Prosveta, BeogradOblik (The Shape), Gramatik, Podgorica, MontenegroTvoritelj (The Creator), Narodna knjiga, Alfa, BeogradKrugovanje (Circling), Third Edition (poems added to the third edition), Narodna knjiga, Alfa, BeogradChristoph Buchwald, general editor, and Ludwig Harig, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2001 ("Poetry Yearbook 2001"), publisher: Beck; anthologyMatilde Camus, Prisma de emociones ("Prism of emotions") SpainMaria Luisa Spaziani, La freccia, ItalyYang Ke, editor, 2000 Yearbook of New Chinese Poetry (Zhongguo xinshi nianjian) China (anthology)C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: John Millett, IcemanKenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jennifer Maiden, MinesMary Gilmore Prize: Lucy Dougan, Memory ShellGerald Lampert AwardArchibald Lampman AwardAtlantic Poetry PrizeSee 2000 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.Pat Lowther AwardPrix Alain-GrandboisShaunt Basmajian Chapbook AwardNew Zealand
Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:Montana New Zealand Book Awards (no poetry winner this year):First-book award for poetry: Glenn Colquhoun, The Art of Walking Upright, Steele RobertsA.W. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award: Allen CurnowCholmondeley Award: Alistair Elliot, Michael Hamburger, Adrian Henri, Carole SatyamurtiEric Gregory Award: Eleanor Margolies, Antony Rowland, Antony Dunn, Karen Goodwin, Clare PollardForward Poetry Prize Best Collection: Michael Donaghy, Conjure (Picador)Forward Poetry Prize Best First Collection: Andrew Waterhouse, In (The Rialto)Samuel Johnson Prize: David Cairns, Berlioz: Volume 2Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Edwin MorganT. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland): Michael Longley, The Weather in JapanWhitbread Award for poetry: John Burnside, The Asylum DanceAgnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to Quan Barry for AsylumAiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, Eleanor Ross TaylorBernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry, Corey Marks, "Renunciation", and (separately) Christopher Patton, "Broken Ground"Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, David Ferry for Of No Country I Know: New and Selected Poems and TranslationsBrittingham Prize in Poetry, Rudy Delgado Jr., A Path Between HousesFrost Medal: Anthony HechtNational Book Award for poetry: Lucille Clifton, Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: Stanley Kunitz appointedPoet Laureate of Virginia: Grace Simpson, two year appointment 2000 to 2002Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: C.K. Williams, RepairRobert Fitzgerald Prosody Award: T. V. F. BroganRuth Lilly Poetry Prize: Carl DennisWallace Stevens Award: Frank BidartWhiting Awards: Albert Mobilio, James Thomas Stevens, Claude WilkinsonWilliam Carlos Williams Award: Kathleen Peirce, The Oval Hour (Iowa Poetry Prize), Judge: Jean ValentineFellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Lyn HejinianBirth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 2 – Roland Flint, United States, at 66, of cancerApril 21 – Al Purdy, Canada, at 81, of lung cancerApril 21 – Douglas Oliver, United KingdomMay 14 – Karl Shapiro, at 86September 25 – R.S. Thomas, 87, Anglo-Welsh poetJune 9 – Ernst Jandl (born 1925), Austrian poet, author and translatorJune 26 – Judith Wright, United States, 85, of a heart attackJuly 13 – Alex Derwent Hope, 92, poetSeptember 22 – Yehuda Amichai (born 1924), Israeli poetNovember 29 – William ScammellDecember 3 – Gwendolyn Brooks, 83, of cancerDecember 20 – Adrian HenryDate not known:Edgar Bowers, at 75, of non-Hodgkins' lymphomaJohn Bruce (poet), CanadaLauris Edmond (born 1924), New ZealandLibby Scheier, Canada 
