Gary Snyder Wins Ruth Lilly Prize

Robert Lee Brewer posts the news release over at Poetic Asides. It's a prize that actually carries a substantial reward (one hundred thousand dollars!), so it's well won.

And it's certainly a better use of the Poetry Foundation's money than most.

Snyder joins John Ashbery as the only other New American poet to be awarded the prize. Previous winners, though, have included poets writing in a number of the other tendencies of American poetry: Adrienne Rich, Philip Levine, Anthony Hecht, Mona Van Duyn, Hayden Carruth, David Wagoner, John Ashbery, Charles Wright, Donald Hall, A.R. Ammons, Gerald Stern, William Matthews (Sebastian's dad), W.S. Merwin, Maxine Kumin, Carl Dennis, Yusef Komunyakaa, Lisel Mueller, Linda Pastan, Kay Ryan, C.K. Williams, Richard Wilbur, and Lucille Clifton. It's awarded to "a living poet whose lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition."