Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
"received confirmation from the laboratory at the University of Calgary that my poetic cipher, gene X-P13, has in fact caused E. coli to fluoresce red in our test-runs—meaning that, when implanted in the genome of this bacterium, my poem (which begins “any style of life/ is prim...”) does in fact cause the bacterium to write, in response, its own poem (which begins “the faery is rosy/ of glow...”)."
January 19 – Liz Lochhead becomes the second Scots Makar, the official national poet of Scotland.April 4 – Canadian poet Christian Bök announces a significant break-through in his 9-year project to engineer "a life-form so that it becomes not only a durable archive for storing a poem, but also an operant machine for writing a poem". On April 3, Bök said that he"received confirmation from the laboratory at the University of Calgary that my poetic cipher, gene X-P13, has in fact caused E. coli to fluoresce red in our test-runs—meaning that, when implanted in the genome of this bacterium, my poem (which begins “any style of life/ is prim...”) does in fact cause the bacterium to write, in response, its own poem (which begins “the faery is rosy/ of glow...”)."
June 12 – A poet and student, Ayat al-Ghermezi of Bahrain, is sentenced to a year in prison as part of that kingdom's crackdown on Shiite protesters calling for greater rights. Ayat was arrested on March 30 for reciting a poem critical of the government and cursing the current prime minister, Khalifa ibn Salman Al Khalifa, during the Bahraini uprising in Pearl Square, the main gathering place for demonstrators, in February 2011.August 9 – Announcement that Philip Levine has been named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (United States Poet Laureate).October 6 – Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer wins the 2011 Nobel Prize in LiteratureNovember 9 – The former United States Poet Laureate, Robert Hass, was participating in an Occupy movement demonstration at UC Berkeley called Occupy Cal, when he was hit in the ribs by a police officer wielding a baton. The incident occurred after his wife, poet Brenda Hillman, was shoved to the ground by a police officer, and Hass had tried to help her. He wrote about their experience in a November 19, 2011, New York Times opinion piece entitled "Poet-Bashing Police." Also, poet Geoffrey G. O'Brien suffered broken ribs at the same demonstration.November 11 – Politician, academic and poet Michael D. Higgins takes office as President of Ireland.December 6 – A memorial to Ted Hughes is unveiled in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey by Seamus Heaney.December 7 – Two British poets, Alice Oswaldand John Kinsella, have withdrawn from this year's T. S. Eliot Prize in protest over the prize's sponsorship by an investment company called Arum who focus on hedge funds.Michael Boughn, Cosmographia: A Post-Lucretian Faux Micro-EpicKate Eichhorn, Fieldnotes, A ForensicPhil Hall, KilldeerGarry Thomas Morse, Discovery PassagesSusan Musgrave, Origami DoveVivek Narayanan, Universal Beach, 80 pages, ingirumimusnocteetconsumimurigni (SPD, dist.), ISBN 978-1-934639-10-8Hal Duncan, Songs for the Devil and Death, 172 pages, Papaverua Press, ISBN 978-1-907881-04-6Ralph Pordzik, Pretending to See Elephants, 58 pages, Lulu Press, ISBN 978-1-4457-5568-7William Walker (age 97), The Poetry of Flt Lt William Walker AE, The Battle of Britain Memorial TrustEoghan Walls, The Salt Harvest, 64 pages, Seren Books, ISBN 978-1-85411-549-2Carol Watts, Occasionals, Reality Street, 88 pp., ISBN 978-1-874400-52-3Being Human, edited by Neil AstleyNew Poetries V, edited by Michael Schmidt with Eleanor Crawforth, 264 pages, Carcanet Press, ISBN 978-1-84777-131-5Seth Abramson, Northerners, 72 pages, New Issues Press, ISBN 978-1-930974-96-8Ammiel Alcalay, “neither wit nor gold” (from them), 88 pp., Ugly Duckling Presse, ISBN 978-1-933254-84-5Will Alexander, Compression & Purity, 100 pp., City Lights, ISBN 978-0-87286-541-9Rae Armantrout, Money Shot, 80 pages, Wesleyan University Press, ISBN 978-0-8195-7130-4Morris Berman, Counting Blessings, 44 pages, Cervena Barva Press, ISBN 978-0-5780-8091-8Ernesto Cardenal, The Origin of the Species and Other Poems, translated & introduced by John Lyons, foreword by Anne Waldman, 168 pp., Texas Tech University Press, ISBN 978-0-89672-689-5Billy Collins, Horoscopes for the Dead, 128 pages, Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-6492-2William Corbett, The Whalen Poem, 64 pages, Hanging Loose Press, ISBN 978-1-934909-13-3Joshua Corey, Severance Songs, 84 pages, Tupelo Press, 978-1-932195-92-7Forrest Gander, Core Samples from the World, 96 pages, New Directions, ISBN 978-0-8112-1887-0Jane Hirshfield, Come, Thief, 108 pages, Knopf, ISBN 978-0-307-59542-3Harmony Holiday, Negro League Baseball, 104 pages, Fence Books, ISBN 978-1-934200-42-1Susan Howe, That This, 112 pages, New Directions, ISBN 978-0-8112-1918-1David Meltzer, When I Was A Poet, 150 pages, City Lights, ISBN 978-0-87286-516-7Anna Moschovakis, You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake, 132 pages, Coffee House Press, ISBN 978-1-56689-250-6Alice Notley, Culture of One, 160 pages, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-14-311893-0Edward Nudelman, What Looks Like an Elephant, 116 pp., Lummox Press, ISBN 978-1-929878-91-8Ovid, Love Poems, Letters and Remedies of Ovid, transl. by David R. Slavitt; introd. by Michael Dirda, 384 pp., Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-05904-7Michael Palmer, Thread, 112 pages, New Directions, ISBN 978-0-8112-1921-1Ruben Quesada, Next Extinct Mammal, 62 pages, Greenhouse Review Press, ISBN 978-0-9655239-9-8Matthew Rohrer, Destroyer and Preserver, 96 pages, Wave, ISBN 978-1-933517-50-6Rabindranath Tagore, The Essential Tagore, ed. by Fakrul Alam & Radha Chakravarty, 864 pp., Belknap-Harvard, ISBN 978-0-674-05790-6Tyrone Williams, Pink Tie, Hooke Press,Elizabeth Willis, Address, 80 pages, Wesleyan, ISBN 978-0-8195-7098-7Dean Young, Fall Higher, Copper Canyon Press, ISBN 978-1-55659-311-6Tyler Chadwick (ed.); – Fire in the Pasture: 21st Century Mormon Poets, 546 pages. Peculiar Pages, ISBN 978-0-9817696-6-0.Kenneth Goldsmith (ed.); Craig Dworkin (ed.) – Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing, 656 pages. Northwestern University Press, ISBN 978-0-8101-2711-1Sarah Palin; Michael Solomon (ed.) – I Hope Like Heck, 64 pages. Byliner, ISBN 978-1-61452-009-2Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
Charles Bernstein, Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions, 296 pages, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-04477-4Robert Duncan, The H.D. Book, 696 pages, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-26075-7Oren Izenberg, Being Numerous: Poetry and the Ground of Social Life, 272 pages, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14866-3Christopher Nealon, The Matter of Capital: Poetry and Crisis in the American Century, 202 pages, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-05872-9These poets appeared in The Best American Poetry 2011. David Lehman, general editor, and Kevin Young, guest editor (who selected the poetry):
Anthologies in France
Nora Bossong, Sommer vor den Mauern: Gedichte, 96 pages, Hanser, ISBN 978-3-446-23629-5Tom Bresemann, Berliner Fenster: Gedichte, 96 pages, Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-3-8270-0973-9Crauss., LAKRITZVERGIFTUNG. juicy transversions: Gedichte, 180 pages, Verlagshaus J. Frank, ISBN 978-3-940249-96-8Dietmar Dath, Gott ruft zurück: Gedichte, 60 pages, Connewitzer Verlagsbuchhandlung, ISBN 978-3-937799-50-6Synke Köhler, waldoffen: Gedichte, 76 pages, Lyrikedition 2000, ISBN 978-3-86906-180-1Alexander Gumz, ausrücken mit modellen: Gedichte, 88 pages, kookbooks, ISBN 978-3-937445-44-1Daniela Seel, ich kann diese stelle nicht wiederfinden: Gedichte, 64 pages, kookbooks, ISBN 978-3-937445-46-5Mathias Traxler, You’re welcome: Gedichte/ Aufzeichnungen, 127 pages, kookbooks, ISBN 978-3-937445-45-8Lutz Steinbrück, Blickdicht: Gedichte, 76 pages, Verlagshaus J. Frank, ISBN 978-3-940249-38-8Mikael Vogel, Massenhaft Tiere: Gedichte, 100 pages, Verlagshaus J. Frank, ISBN 978-3-940249-40-1Florian Voß, Datenschatten Datenströme Staub: Gedichte, 80 pages, Verlagshaus J. Frank, ISBN 978-3-940249-46-3Matthew Zapruder, Glühend: Gedichte, a bilingual English/German edition; translated into German by Ron Winkler, 145 pages, luxbooks, ISBN 978-3-939557-41-8Judith Zander, oder tau: Gedichte, 100 pages, dtv, ISBN 978-3-423-24862-4Ireland
Seán Ó Ríordáin, Na Dánta (Poems) ISBN 9781905560738Poland
Leszek Engelking, Muzeum dzieciństwa (Museum of Childhood, WBPiCAK) ISBN 978-83-62717-13-2Julia Hartwig, Gorzkie żale (Lenten Psalms, Wydawnictwo a5) ISBN 978-83-61298-30-4Bengali :
Rahman Henry, Sorrow and some other happiness. (Dukkho O Aro Kichu Ananda); Bhashachitra, Dhaka, Bangladesh. ISBN 978-984-8471-02-9, Bengali poetryChandan Chowdhury, Sculpture of Crow. (kaker vascorjo); Ittadi grantho prakash, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Bengali poetryUkrainian :
Les Wicks, Shadows of the Read (Krok)"AU/UA: Contemporary Poetry of Ukraine and Australia" (Krok) Meuse PressUrdu
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Meri Tasveer ("My Portrait") (GBD Books, New Delhi), Urdu poetryAwards and honors by Country
Awards announced this year:
Canada awards and honors
Archibald Lampman Award: Paul Tyler, A Short History of ForgettingAtlantic Poetry Prize: John Steffler, Lookout2011 Governor General's Awards: Phil Hall, Killdeer (English); Louise Dupré, Plus haut que les flammes (French)Griffin Poetry Prize:Canadian: Dionne Brand, OssuariesInternational, in the English Language: Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Heavenly QuestionsLifetime Recognition Award: Yves BonnefoyGerald Lampert Award: Anna Swanson, The Nights AlsoPat Lowther Award: Evelyn Lau, Living Under PlasticPrix Alain-Grandbois: Carole David, Manuel de poétique à l'intention des jeunes fillesUnited Kingdom awards and honors
Cholmondeley Award:Costa Award (formerly "Whitbread Awards") for poetry:Shortlist:English Association's Fellows' Poetry Prizes:Eric Gregory Award (for a collection of poems by a poet under the age of 30):Forward Poetry Prize:Best Collection:Shortlist:Best First Collection:Shortlist:Best Poem:Shortlist:Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for poetry:Shortlist:Manchester Poetry Prize:National Poet of Wales:National Poetry Competition 2010:T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland):Shortlist (announced in November 201): 2011 Short ListThe Times/Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation:United States awards and honors
Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: to Dore Kiesselbach for Salt PierAML Award for Poetry awarded to Tyler Chadwick for editing Fire in the Pasture: Twenty-first Century Mormon PoetsBollingen Prize: Susan Howe – Judges: Peter Gizzi, Marjorie Perloff, Claudia RankineKate Tufts Discovery Award: Atsuro Riley for Romey's OrderKingsley Tufts Poetry Award: Chase Twichell for Horses Where the Answers Should Have BeenLenore Marshall Poetry Prize: C.D. Wright for One With OthersNational Book Award for Poetry: Nikky Finney for Head Off & Split: PoemsNational Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry: awarded to Laura Kasischke for Space, In Chains.The New Criterion Poetry Prize: D.H. Tracy for Janet's CottagePEN Award for Poetry in Translation: Khaled Mattawa for Adonis: Selected Poems by AdonisPulitzer Prize for Poetry (United States): to Kay Ryan for The Best of It: New and Selected PoemsFinalists: The Common Man by Maurice Manning and Break the Glass by Jean ValentineRaiziss/de Palchi Translation Award: Dominic SiracusaRuth Lilly Poetry Prize : David FerryWallace Stevens Award: Yusef KomunyakaaWhiting Awards: Don Mee Choi, Eduardo C. Corral, Shane McCrae, Kerri WebsterYale Younger Series: Eduardo C. Corral – Judge: Carl PhillipsFrost Medal: Charles SimicShelley Memorial Award: – Judges:Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award: – Judge:Lyric Poetry Award: – Judge:Lucille Medwick Memorial Award: – Judge: ; finalist:Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award: – Judge: ; finalists:Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award: – Judge: ; finalists:George Bogin Memorial Award: – Judge:Robert H. Winner Memorial Award: – Judge: ; finalists:Cecil Hemley Memorial Award: – Judge:Norma Farber First Book Award: – Judge:William Carlos Williams Award: – Judge: ; finalists:2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 8: Virginia Student Prize :: Judge: Dr. Kate Simpson, Winchester, VA
1st Place – Jake Robinson of Virginia Beach, VA for the poem "Makings of Men"2nd Place – Mikal Cardine of Midland, VA for the poem "Remember"3rd Place – Kira Tomlin of Front Royal, VA for the poem "Caught In Silence"1st Honorable Mention – Elliott Warren of Richmond, VA for the poem "Time Does Not Heal"2nd Honorable Mention – Franklin Ewing of Richmond, VA for the poem "Against Kosovel"3rd Honorable Mention – Andre Aganbi of Chester, VA for the poem "Classic Scene"2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 7: College/University :: Judge: Bob Kelly, Newport News, VA
1st Place Ishaway Friestad of Norfolk, VA for the poem "Super Nova"3rd Place Lauren "Wren" Brown of Springfield, VA for the poem "Spiral"2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 6: Grades 11 & 12 :: Judge: Nancy Powell, Hampton, VA
1st Place Franklin Ewing of Richmond, VA for the poem "Think"2nd Place Bridget Jamison of Vienna, VA for the poem "The Dance"3rd Place Stephen Wood of Richmond, VA for the poem "On The Rechristening of High Fructose Corn Syrup"2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 5: Grades 9 & 10:: Judge: Pete Freas, Chesapeake, VA
1st Place Hannah Wilson of Oak Park, IL for the poem “I came from a mother...”2nd Place Hannah Srajer of Oak Park, IL for the poem "Crusade"2nd Place Olivia O'Sullivan of Oak Park, IL for the poem “weekday drinking...”3rd Place Natalie Richardson of Oak Park, IL for the poem “his curious fingers...”3rd Place Yuliya Semibratova of Oak Park, IL for the poem “not red, nor white, nor blue...”1st Honorable Mention Rory Dunn of Fredericksburg, VA for the poem "The Feeling"2011 Student Poetry Contest Winners :: Category 4: Grades 7 & 8 :: Judge: ijil Rainbow Hawk Giver, Norfolk, VA
1st Place Tess Hinchman of West Bath, ME for the poem "March 15"2nd Place Sam Herter of Brunswick, ME for the poem “Fears: Age 7”3rd Place Lilly Richardson of Whitefield, ME for the poem “Do You Remember?”1st Honorable Mention Sophia Carbonneau of Alna, ME for the poem "This Is Just To Say"1st Honorable Mention Sabrina Sammel of Stafford, VA for the poem "Silence"2nd Honorable Mention Morganne Elkins of Edgecomb, ME for the poem "Don"2nd Honorable Mention Caleb Rinderer of Newport News, VA for the poem "Country Daybreak"3rd Honorable Mention Rex Reilly of Miami Beach, FL for the poem "Chocolate"Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 5 – Malangatana Ngwenya, age 74 (born 1936), Mozambican poet and painterJanuary 10 – María Elena Walsh, age 80 (born 1930), Argentine musician, poet and writer ("Manuelita la tortuga")January 11 – Susana Chávez, age 36 (born 1974), Mexican poet and human rights activist, strangledJanuary 20F. A. Nettelbeck, age 60 (born 1950), American poetReynolds Price, age 77 (born 1933), American novelist, occasional poet, and scholar of the work of John MiltonJanuary 23 – Novica Tadić, age 62 (born 1949), Yugoslavian poetJanuary 25 – R. F. Langley, age 72 (born 1938), English poet and diarist, loosely affiliated with the Cambridge poetry scene.February 3 – Édouard Glissant, age 82 (born 1928), French-Martiniquan poet and writer.February 6 – Andrée Chedid, 90, Egyptian-born French poet and novelist.February 11 – Bo Carpelan, 84, Finnish poet and author.February 25 – Aminath Faiza, 82, Maldivian poet and author.February 25 – Justinas Marcinkevičius, 80, Lithuanian poet and playwright.March 2 – John Haines, 86, American poet and educator, former poet laureate of AlaskaApril 2 – Paul Violi, 66, American poetApril 25 – Ira Cohen, 76 (born 1935), American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmakerMay 10 – Patrick Galvin, 83 (born 1927), Irish poet and dramatistMay 19 – William Kloefkorn, 78 (born 1933), American poet and former "Nebraska State Poet"May 23 – Roberto Sosa, 81 (born 1930), Honduran poetMay 25:Edwin Honig, 91 (born 1919), American poet, critic and translator known for his English renditions of seminal works of Spanish and Portuguese literatureYannis Varveris (born 1955), Greek poet, critic and translatorMay 27 – Gil Scott-Heron, 62 (born 1949), American poet, spoken-word musician and author who helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetryMay 29 – Da Real One, 46, American poet (Def Poetry) gunned down in North Miami.June 2 – Josephine Hart, 69 (born 1942), Irish-born British novelist and poetry promoter. As director of Haymarket Publishing, a founder of Gallery Poets and West End Poetry Hour.June 21 – Robert Kroetsch, OC, 83 (born 1927), Canadian novelist, poet and non-fiction writer.August 22 – Samuel Menashe, 85 (born 1925), American poet and the first poet to receive "The Neglected Masters Award", given by the The Poetry Foundation of America, which he received in 2004.August 24 – Seyhan Erözçelik, 49 (born 1962), a Turkish poet.August 26 – Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, 71 (born 1940) – a U.S. writer, better known for her novels, who published 6 volumes of poetry. She was a finalist for the 1975 National Book Award in poetry for "Granite Lady"September 4 – Hugh Fox, 79 (born 1932) – prolific U.S. novelist and poet and one of the founders of the Pushcart PrizeOctober 18 – Andrea Zanzotto, 90 (born 1921), Italian poet.November 10 – Ivan Martin Jirous, 67 (born 1944), Czech poetNovember 19 - Ruth Stone, 96 (born 1915), U.S. poetNovember 21 – Theodore Enslin, 86 (born 1925), U.S. poet with close ties to Cid Corman, Charles Olson, and particularly the Objectivist tradition in the U.S.November 24 – Andrzej Mandalian, 85 (born 1926), Polish poetDecember 14 – George Whitman, 98 (born 1913) was the heir to Sylvia Beach as proprietor of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris.December 18 – Václav Havel, 75 (born 1936) was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician; best known to the public as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003).December 30 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, 91, American poet who received the 2010 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which honors poets whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition" (the prize was $100,000). 
