This article presents lists of historical events related to the writing of poetry during 2004. The historical context of events related to the writing of poetry in 2004 are addressed in articles such as History of Poetry Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
April 1 — Foetry.com Web site is launched for the announced purpose of "Exposing fraudulent contests. Tracking the sycophants. Naming names." Members and visitors contribute information which links judges and prize winners in various poetry contests in attempts to document whether some contests have been rigged.
February 16 — Edwin Morgan becomes Scotland's first ever official national poet, The Scots Makar, appointed by the Scottish Parliament.
Jang Jin-sung defects from North Korea.
Publication of remaining fragments of Sappho's Tithonus poem (6th/7th cent. BCE).
Samizdat poetry magazine, founded in 1998, ceases publication.
David and Helen Constantine relaunch Modern Poetry in Translation, a British journal focusing on the art of translating poetry. The magazine was originally founded in 1966 by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort.
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Robert Adamson Reading the River: Selected Poems
Alison Croggon, November Burning, Vagabond
M. T. C. Cronin, <More or Less Than> 1–100
Luke Davies, Totem
Sarah Day, The Ship, winner of the 2005 Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award; Blackheath, N.S.W.: Brandl & Schlesinger
Noel Rowe, Next to Nothing
Dipti Saravanamuttu, The Colosseum
Samuel Wagan Watson, Smoke Encrypted Whispers
Les Wicks, Stories of the Feet, published by Five Islands
Anthony Lawrence, editor, The Best Australian Poetry 2004, Publisher: UQP
Les Murray, editor, The Best Australian Poems 2004, Publisher: Black Inc.
Robert Archambeau, Home and Variations (Salt)
Roo Borson, Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida, winner of the 2004 Governor General's Award, the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize and the 2005 Pat Lowther Award, ISBN 0-7710-1591-7, American-Canadian
Jon Paul Fiorentino, Hello Serotonin (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-136-6
Susan Holbrook, Good Egg Bad Seed
Dennis Lee, So cool. Dennis Lee ; illustrations by Maryann Kovalski. Toronto : Key Porter.
Don McKay, Camber, shortlisted for the 2005 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada)
Michael Ondaatje, Vintage Ondaatje, Vintage, ISBN 978-1-4000-7744-1
Ian Samuels, The Ubiquitous Big (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-135-9
Mark Truscott, Said Like Reeds or Things (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-145-8
Julia Williams, The Sink House (Coach House Books) ISBN 978-1-55245-146-5
Meena Alexander, Raw Silk (Poetry in English), Evanston, Illinois: TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, by an Indian writing living in and published in the United States
Ajeet Cour and Nirupama Dutt, editors, Our Voices: An Anthology of SAARC Poetry, in various languages, with some translations into English; New Delhi: Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Yellow Hibiscus: New and Selected Poems (Poetry in English), New Delhi: Penguin
Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Robin Ngangom, editors, Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from the Northeast, Shillong: Nehu Publishing
Jeet Thayil, English (Poetry in English), Penguin, Delhi and Rattapallax Press, New York, 2004. ISBN 1-892494-59-0; India, Indian poetry in English
Mamang Dai, River Poems (Poetry in English), Kolkata: Writers Workshop
Ireland
Sebastian Barry, The Pinkening Boy: New Poems New Island New Poetry,
Dermot Bolger, The Chosen Moment
Ciarán Carson: The Midnight Court, (translation of Brian Merriman's Cúirt an Mhéan Oíche Gallery Press, 2005; Wake Forest University Press
Peter Fallon, translator, The Georgics of Virgil, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1-85235-365-0
Vona Groarke, Flight and Earlier Poems, Wake Forest University Press, Winston-Salem Irish poet published in the U.S.
Michael D. Higgins, An Arid Season
William Wall, Fahrenheit Says Nothing To Me, Dedalus Press, Dublin ISBN 1-904556-21-3
New Zealand
Mark Pirie, Ron Riddell and Saray Torres, editors, The 2nd Wellington International Poetry Festival Anthology, Wellington: HeadworX
Kendrick Smithyman, Campana to Montale, Writers Group
Poets in Best New Zealand Poems
Poems from these 25 poets were selected by Robin Dudding for Best New Zealand Poems 2003, published online this year:
Carol Ann Duffy, New Selected Poems Picador
Paul Henry, The Breath of Sleeping Boys & other poems, Carreg Gwalch
Muriel Spark, All the Poems
Carol Ann Duffy:
Out of Fashion: An Anthology of Poems, editor (contemporary poets select their favourite poem, from another time or culture, in connection with clothing), Faber and Faber
Overheard on a Saltmarsh: Poets' Favourite Poems (editor) (30 contemporary poets selected their favourite children's poem to appear alongside one of their own poems; including contemporary poems by Sophie Hannah, Jackie Kay, Valerie Bloom, and Wendy Cope, as well as classic poets such as Robert Burns, John Betjeman and Edward Lear) Macmillan
Don Paterson and Charles Simic, editors, New British Poetry
Kim Addonizio, What is this Thing Called Love (Norton)
Meena Alexander, Raw Silk, Evanston, Illinois: TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, by an Indian writing living in and published in the United States
John Ash, To the City (Talisman), ISBN 1-58498-037-0
Wendell Berry, Given: Poems (Shoemaker & Hoard)
Sophie Cabot Black, The Descent: poetry (Graywolf Press), ISBN 1-55597-406-6
Charles Bukowski, Slouching Toward Nirvana: New Poems (Ecco)
Tina Chang, Half-Lit Houses, Four Way Books
Rita Dove, American Smooth: Poems (Norton); a New York Times "notable book of the year"
Claudia Emerson, Late Wife (Louisiana State University Press)
Alice Fulton, Cascade Experiment: Selected Poems (Norton)
Sarah Gambito, Matadora (Alice James Book), ISBN 978-1882295487
Jack Gilbert, Refusing Heaven (Alfred A. Knopf)
Vona Groarke, Flight and Earlier Poems, Wake Forest University Press, Winston-Salem Irish poet published in the U.S.
Beth Gylys, Spot in the Dark (Ohio State University Press), winner of The OSU Press/The Journal Award in Poetry
Lee Harwood, Collected Poems
Allison Hedge Coke – Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer (memoir of poet's life)
Fanny Howe, On the Ground
Donald Justice, Collected Poems (Knopf); published posthumously; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
Jane Kenyon, Jane Kenyon: Collected Poems (Graywolf Press), posthumous
Ted Kooser, Flying At Night: Poems 1965–1985 (University of Pittsburgh Press)
W. S. Merwin:
Migration: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press)
Present Company
Mirabai, Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems translated into English by Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield
Eugenio Montale, Selected Poems, translated by Jonathan Galassi, Charles Wright, and David Young from the original Italian; Oberlin College Press, ISBN 0-932440-98-3
Mary Oliver:
New and Selected Poems, volume two
Why I Wake Early: New Poems
Blue Iris: Poems and Essays
Long Life: Essays and Other Writings
Carl Phillips, The Rest of Love, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Kay Ryan, The Niagara River (Grove Press) ISBN 0-8021-4222-2
Michael Ryan, New And Selected Poems
Mark Strand, Keeping Things Whole, by a Canadian native long living in and published in the United States
Tony Tost, Invisible Bride (LSU) (selected by C.D. Wright for the 2003 Walt Whitman Award)
Derek Walcott, The Prodigal (Farrar, Straus & Giroux); a New York Times "notable book of the year"
Rosmarie Waldrop, Blindsight (New Directions)
Franz Wright, Walking to Martha's Vineyard (Knopf) (Pulitzer Prize in Poetry)
Jesse Lee Kercheval, Dog Angel
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
Anne Waldman and Lisa Birman, editors, Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action, essays (Coffee House Press)
Mary Ann Caws, editor, Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry, (Yale University Press), Apollinaire and more than 100 other poets, bi-lingual
Poets in The Best American Poetry 2004
The 75 poets included in The Best American Poetry 2004, edited by David Lehman, co-edited this year by Lyn Hejinian:
Stratis Haviaras translator into English from the original Modern Greek, C.P. Cavafy, The Canon, (Athens: Hermes Publishing; reprinted by Harvard University Press in 2007), published in Greece
Seyhmus Dagtekin, La langue mordue, Publisher: Le Castor Astral; Turkish poet writing in and published in French
Linda Maria Baros, Le Livre de signes et d’ombres, Publisher: Éditions Cheyne
Jean Max Tixier:
Editor, La Poésie française contemporaine, anthology, publisher: Cogito
Editor, Joyaux au sud / Juvaere din sud, traduit du roumain, anthology, publisher: Cogito
Le temps des mots, publisher: Pluie d'étoiles éditions
Denise Desautels, editor, Mémoires parallèles, choix et présentation de Paul Chamberland, Montréal, Le Noroît (anthology)
In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
K. Satchidanandan, Sakshyangal, ("Witness")
P. P. Ramachandran, Randay Murichathu, Thrissur: Current Books
Raghavan Atholi, Maunasilakalude Pranayakkurippukal, Calicut: Avvaiyar Books
Ajeet Cour and Nirupama Dutt, editors, Our Voices: An Anthology of SAARC Poetry, in various languages, with some translations into English; New Delhi: Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature
Jiban Narah, Suna mor Phul Koli, Guwahati, Assam: Banlata; Indian, Assamese-language
Malathi Maithri, Viduthalaiyai Ezhuthuthal ("Writing Liberation"), Nagercoil: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam; Tamil-language
Natyanubhava, Bikaner: Vagdevi Prakashan, ISBN 81-87482-49-4, anthology; Hindi-language
Nirendranath Chakravarti, Mayabi Bondhon, Kolkata: Dey's Publishing; Bengali-language
Sachin Ketkar, Bhintishivaicya Khidkitun Dokavtana, Mumbai: Abhidhanantar Prakashan; Marathi-language
Tarannum Riyaz, editor, Biswin Sadi Mein Khwateen ka Urdu Adab ("Anthology of Twentieth Century Women's Writing in Urdu"), poetry, fiction and nonfiction anthology; New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-1620-5; Urdu-language
Srijato, Udanta Sawb Joker ("All Those Flying Jokers"), Bengali-language
Veerankutty, Manthrikan ("Wizard"), Kottayam: DC Books; Malayalam-language
Poland
Julia Hartwig, Bez pozegnania ("No Farewells"), 96 pages; Warsaw: Sic! ISBN 83-88807-60-9
Ryszard Krynicki, Kamień, szron ("Stone, Rime"); Kraków: Wydawnictwo a5
Ewa Lipska, Gdzie indziej, ("Somewhere else"); Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie
Tadeusz Różewicz, Wyjście ("Exit"), Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie
Tomasz Różycki:
Dwanaście stacji ("Twelve Stations"), a book-length poem, awarded the 2004 Kościelski Prize; Kraków: Znak
Wiersze, containing all the poems from Różycki's first four poetry books, Warsaw: Lampa i Iskra Boża
Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Michael Lentz, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2005 ("Poetry Yearbook 2005"), publisher: Beck; anthology; Germany
Klaus Høeck, Hsieh, publisher: Gyldendal; Denmark
Rahman Henry, Aundhokarbela, publisher: BALAKA, Chittagong. Bangladesh
Tomas Tranströmer, The Great Enigma (Den stora gåtan), publisher: Albert Bonniers förlag; Sweden
ALS Gold Medal: Laurie Duggan, Mangroves, University of Queensland Press
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Judith Beveridge, Wolf Notes
Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize: Totem by Luke Davies
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry: Luke Davies, Totem, Allen & Unwin
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Pam Brown, Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems
Mary Gilmore Prize: David McCooey, Blister Pack; Michael Brennan, Imageless World
Gerald Lampert Award
Archibald Lampman Award
Atlantic Poetry Prize
Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate: Pauline Michel (until 2006)
Governor General's Awards: See 2004 Governor General's Awards
Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian: Anne Simpson, Loop
Griffin Poetry Prize International, in the English Language: August Kleinzahler, The Strange Hours Travelers Keep
Pat Lowther Award
Prix Alain-Grandbois
Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award
New Zealand
Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
Montana New Zealand Book Awards First-book award for poetry: Cliff Fell, The Adulterer's Bible, Victoria University Press
Cholmondeley Award: John Agard, Ruth Padel Lawrence Sail, Eva Salzman
Eric Gregory Award: Nick Laird, Elizabeth Manuel, Abi Curtis, Sophie Levy, Saradha Soobrayen
Forward Poetry Prize Best Collection: Kathleen Jamie, The Tree House (Picador)
Forward Poetry Prize Best First Collection: Leontia Flynn, These Days (Jonathan Cape)
Scots Makar (equivalent of a poet laureate to represent and promote poetry in Scotland) named on February 16: Edwin Morgan
Orange Prize for Fiction: Andrea Levy, Small Island
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Hugo Williams
T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland): George Szirtes, Reel
Whitbread Award for poetry: Michael Symmons Roberts, "Corpus"
Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, Henry Taylor
Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to Aaron Smith for Blue on Blue Ground
AML Award for poetry to John Talbot for The Well-Tempered Tantrum
Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize awarded to Sheryl Luna for Pity the Drowned Horses
Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry, Jeremy Glazier, "Conversations with the Sidereal Messenger"
Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, B.H. Fairchild for Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest
Brittingham Prize in Poetry, John Brehm, Sea of Faith
Frost Medal: Richard Howard
MacArthur Fellowship: C.D. Wright
National Book Award for poetry: Jean Valentine, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: Ted Kooser appointed
Poet Laureate of Virginia: Rita Dove, two year appointment 2004 to 2006
Pulitzer Prize for poetry: Franz Wright, Walking to Martha's Vineyard (ISBN 0-375-41518-1)
Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award: Timothy Steele
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Kay Ryan
Wallace Stevens Award: Mark Strand
Whiting Awards: Catherine Barnett, Dan Chiasson, A. Van Jordan
William Carlos Williams Award: Anthony Butts, Little Low Heaven, Judge: Lucie Brock-Broido
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Jane Hirshfield
Awards and honors in other nations
One of Pakistan's highest civilian honors, the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, awarded to Ahmed Faraz, an Urdu-language poet, for his literary achievements
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 4 – Jeff Nuttall, 70 (born 1933), English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, and social commentator
January 8 – Norman Talbot (born 1936), Australian
January 29 – Janet Frame, 79, English novelist who wrote poetry all her life; she published one collection, The Pocket Mirror, in 1967.
February 17 – Bruce Beaver (born 1928), Australian
March 3 – Pedro Pietri 59, Puerto Rican/American poet
March 12 – Cid Corman, 79, American poet, translator and editor
August 29 – Donald Allen, influential editor, publisher, and translator of contemporary American literature who edited The New American Poetry 1945-1960, an influential book republished in 1990.
September 16 – Virginia Hamilton Adair, 91, American poet
October 20 – Anthony Hecht, American poet
December 2 – Mona Van Duyn (born 1921), American poet
December 8 – Jackson Mac Low, American poet
December 26 – Ishigaki Rin 石垣りん (born 1920), Japanese poet, employee of the Industrial Bank of Japan, sometimes called "the bank teller poet"
date not known – Mary Elizabeth Frye (born 1905), American housewife, florist, author of the poem "Do not stand at my grave and weep"
