2003 in poetry

Events

• January 29 – Poet Dana Gioia, who had retired early from his career as a corporate executive at General Foods to write full-time, becomes chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States government's arts agency.
• February 12 – After First Lady Laura Bush invites a number of poets to the White House for this date, one of them, Sam Hamill, starts organizing a protest in which poets would bring anti-war poems. The conference is postponed, but Hamill organizes a "Poets Against the War" Web site with contributions from others. More than 5,000 poems are contributed, including work by John Balaban, Gregory Orr, Rita Dove, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Adrienne Rich, Stanley Kunitz, Marilyn Nelson, Jay Parini, Jamaica Kincaid, Grace Paley and U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Also on the Web site, W. S. Merwin contributes the statement: "To arrange a war in order to be re-elected outdoes even the means employed in the last presidential election. Mr. Bush and his plans are a greater danger to the United States than Saddam Hussein." The new group, "Poets Against the War", organizes poetry readings for February 12 across the country, demonstrating the strong links between many established poets and left-wing pacifism.
• July 2 – In the aftermath of public controversy ignited by state poet laureate Amiri Baraka reading his incendiary and anti-Semitic poem "Somebody Blew Up America" about the September 11th Attacks, and Baraka's subsequent refusals to resign from the position, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey signs legislation abolishing the post of Poet Laureate of New Jersey.
• Early November – Carl Rakosi celebrates his 100th birthday with friends at the San Francisco Public Library.
• The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry is opened at Queens University, Belfast, this year. It houses the Heaney Media Archive, a unique record of Heaney's entire oeuvre, as well as a full catalogue of his radio and television presentations. This same year Heaney decides to lodge a substantial portion of his literary archive at Emory University.
• Call: Review, an American little magazine, is founded by poet John Most.

  Works published in English

Australia

• Judith Beveridge, Wolf Notes, winner of the 2004 Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award
• Pam Brown, Dear Deliria, winner of the 2004 NSW Premier's Award for Poetry.
• Laurie Duggan, Mangroves
• John Kinsella, Peripheral Light
• Alison Croggon, The Common Flesh: Poems 1980–2002, Arc,
• Geoff Page, editor The Indigo Book of Modern Australian Sonnets, Indigo
• Chris Wallace-Crabbe, A Representative Human, Brunswick: Gungurru Press

  Canada

• Derek Beaulieu, with wax
• George Bowering, Baseball: A Poem in the Magic Number 9
• Di Brandt, Now You Care
• Anne Compton, Opening the Island
• Joe Denham, Flux
• Jill Hartman, A Painted Elephant
• Raymond Knister, After Exile. complete poems compiled by Gregory Betts
• Dennis Lee, Un. Toronto: Anansi.
• Tim Lilburn, Kill-site, winner of the Governor General's Award
• Don McKay, Varves, a chapbook
• W.W.E. Ross, Irrealities, Sonnets & Laconics.
• Anne Simpson Loop, shortlisted for the 2003 Governor General's Award, winner of the 2004 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize,
• Raymond Souster, Twenty-three New Poems. Ottawa: Oberon Press.
• Nathalie Stephens, Paper City
• Suzanne Zelazo, Parlance

  India, in English

• Hemant Divate, Virus Alert, translated from the original Marathi language poetry- by Dilip Chitre; Mumbai : Poetrywala
• Jerry Pinto, Asylum and Other Poems, Allied Publishers,
• Sudeep Sen:
• * Distracted Geography: An Archipelago of Intent, Wings Press, ; Leeds: Peepal Tree, ;
• * Prayer Flag with a compact disc and photographs; New York : Wings Press, 2003, ; Leeds: Peepal Tree,
• Sachin Ketkar, A Dirge for the Dead Dog and other Incantations, New Delhi : Sanbun Publishers
• Ajmer Rode, Selected Poems'', by a Punjabi ; Third Eye Publications,

  Ireland

• Rosita Boland, Dissecting the Heart, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
• Ciaran Carson, Breaking News, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
• Michael Coady, One Another,, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
• Gerald Dawe, Lake Geneva, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,

  New Zealand

• Jenny Bornholdt, Summer
• Robin Hyde, Young Knowledge: the poems of Robin Hyde, edited and introduced by Michele Leggott, Auckland: Auckland University Press, posthumous

  Poets in ''Best New Zealand Poems''

• Jenny Bornholdt
• Diana Bridge
• Rachel Bush
• Kate Camp
• Glen Colqu houn
• Murray Edmond
• Paula Green
• Michael Harlow
• David Howard
• Andrew Johnston
• Anne Kennedy
• Michele Leggott
• Emma Neale
• Bob Orr
• Chris Orsman
• Vincent O'Sullivan
• Bill Sewell
• Anna Smaill
• Kendrick Smithyman
• C.K. Stead
• Robert Sullivan
• Jo Thorpe
• Rae Varcoe
• Louise Wrightson
• Sonja Yelich

  United Kingdom

• Gerry Cambridge, Madame Fi Fi's Farewell and other poems, Luath Press,
• Vahni Capildeo, No Traveller Returns, Caribbean poet
• Ciarán Carson, Breaking News, Gallery Press, Wake Forest University Press, awarded the 2003 Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection
• Carol Ann Duffy, The Good Child's Guide to Rock N Roll, Faber and Faber
• James Fenton, The Love Bomb, verse written as a libretto for a composer who rejected it; Penguin / Faber and Faber
• Lavinia Greenlaw, Minsk, Faber and Faber
• Peter Redgrove, Sheen
• Simawe, Saadi, editor, Iraqi Poetry Today, London: King's College,

  Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom

• R. F. Foster, W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939, Oxford University Press
• Matthew Campbell, editor, The Cambridge Companion to Contemporary Irish Poetry, Cambridge University Press

  United States

• Dick Allen, The Day Before: New Poems
• Mark Bibbins, Sky Lounge
• Charles Bukowski, sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way
• Henri Cole, Middle Earth ; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
• Cid Corman, Now/Now
• Annie Finch, Calendars
• Richard Greenfield, A Carnage in the Lovetress
• John Hollander, Picture Window
• William Logan, Macbeth in Venice
• Howard Nemerov, The Selected Poems of Howard Nemerov, edited by Daniel Anderson ; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
• Mary Oliver, Owls and Other Fantasies: poems and essays
• Willie Perdomo, Smoking Lovely
• James Reiss, Riff on Six: New and Selected Poems
• Kenneth Rexroth, Complete Poems
• Margaret Reynolds, The Sappho History, Palgrave Macmillan,
• C. J. Sage, editor, And We The Creatures: Fifty-one Contemporary American Poets on Animal Rights and Appreciation
• Charles Simic, The Voice at 3:00 a.m.: Selected Late & New Poems ; a New York Times "notable book of the year"
• Tracy K. Smith, The Body's Question won the 2002 Cave Canem Prize for best first book by an African American poet
• Rosmarie Waldrop, Love, Like Pronouns
• William Carlos Williams and Louis Zukofsky, The Correspondence of William Carlos Williams & Louis Zukofsky, edited by Barry Ahearn
• Kirby Wright, Before the City ; winner of the San Diego Book Award for Poetry

  Poets included in ''The Best American Poetry 2003''

• Jonathan Aaron
• Beth Anderson
• Nin Andrews
• Wendell Berry
• Frank Bidart
• Diann Blakely
• Bruce Bond
• Catherine Bowman
• Rosemary Catacalos
• Joshua Clover
• Billy Collins
• Michael S. Collins
• Carl Dennis
• Susan Dickman
• Rita Dove
• Stephen Dunn
• Stuart Dybek
• Charles Fort
• James Galvin
• Amy Gerstler
• Louise Glück
• Michael Goldman
• Ray Gonzalez
• Linda Gregg
• Mark Halliday
• Michael S. Harper
• Matthea Harvey
• George V. Higgins
• Edward Hirsch
• Tony Hoagland
• Richard Howard
• Rodney Jones
• Joy Katz
• Brigit Pegeen Kelly
• Galway Kinnell
• Carolyn Kizer
• Jennifer L. Knox
• Kenneth Koch
• John Koethe
• Ted Kooser
• Philip Levine
• J. D. McClatchy
• W. S. Merwin
• Stanley Moss
• Heather Moss
• Paul Muldoon
• Peggy Munson
• Marilyn Nelson
• Daniel Nester
• Naomi Shihab Nye
• Ishle Yi Park
• Robert Pinsky
• Kevin Prufer
• Ed Roberson
• Vijay Seshadri
• Myra Shapiro
• Alan Shapiro
• Bruce Smith
• Charlie Smith
• Maura Stanton
• Ruth Stone
• James Tate
• William Tremblay
• Natasha Trethewey
• David Wagoner
• Ronald Wallace
• Lewis Warsh
• Susan Wheeler
• Richard Wilbur
• C. K. Williams
• Terence Winch
• David Wojahn
• Robert Wrigley
• Anna Ziegler
• Ahmos Zu-Bolton II

  Works published in other languages

French language

France

• Seyhmus Dagtekin, Couleurs démêlées du ciel, publisher: L'Harmattan; Kurdish Turkish poet writing in French
• Abdellatif Laabi, Moroccan author writing in French:
• * L'automne promet, La Différence, coll. Clepsydre, Paris
• * Les Fruits du corps, La Différence, coll. Clepsydre, Paris
• * Œuvre poétique, La Différence, coll. Œuvre complète, Paris

  Canada, in French

• Denise Desautels, La marathonienne, avec estampes de Maria Cronopoulos, Montréal: Éditions de la courte échelle
• 2003 * Jean Royer, Demeures du silence, Trois-Rivières: Écrits des Forges / Esch-sur-Alzette: Éditions Phi

  Germany

• Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Michael Krueger, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 2004, publisher: Beck; anthology
• Daniel Falb, Daniela Seel, and Andrew Potterof, die räumung dieser parks, Kookbooks
• Bjoern Kuligk and Jan Wagner, editors, Lyrik von Jetzt, publisher: Dumont Verlag, featuring poetry by 74 authors born since 1965 followed in 2008

  Nepal

Bengali language

Bangladesh

• Chandan Chowdhury, Jabe he majhi, diksonnopur, Balaka prakash, Chittagong, Bangladesh

  India

Bengali

• Debarati Mitra, Khonpa Bhare Achhe Tarar Dhuloy, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; India, Bengali-language
• Mallika Sengupta:
• * Purushke Lekha Chithi, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers
• * Editor, Dui Banglar Meyeder Shreshtha kabita, Kolkata: Upasana
• Nirendranath Chakravarti, Bhalobasha Mondobasha, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers; Bengali-language
• Udaya Narayana Singh, Kham-kheyali, Kolkata: Ebang Mushayera

  Other in India

• Gagan Gill, Thapak Thapak Dil Thapak Thapa, New Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan; Punjabi-language
• Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, editor, Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from the Northeast, North-Eastern Hill University; Kahsi-language
• Kanaka Ha Ma, translator, Battalike, a translation of Javed Akhtar's Tarkash from the original Urdu into Kannada; Puttur, Karnataka: Karnataka Sangha
• Kutti Revathi, Thanimaiyin Aayiram Irakkaigal, Chennai: Panikkudam Pathippagam; Tamil-language
• Malathi Maithri, Neerindri Amaiyaathu Ulagu,, Nagercoil: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam; Tamil-language
• Nilmani Phookan, Alop Agota Ami Ki Kotha Pati Ashilo, Guwahati, Assam: Students’ Store, Assamese-language
• Rajendra Kishore Panda; Oraya-language:
• * Collected Poems – Sada Prusthha, Bhubaneswar: Metanym, Oraya-language
• * Drohavakya, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
• * Dujanari, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
• * Vairagi Bhramar, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
• * Satyottara, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
• * Bahwarambhe, Bhubaneswar: Metanym,
• S. Joseph, Meenkaran, Kottayam: DC Books, ; Malayalam-language
• Salma, Pachchai Devathai, Nagercoil: Kalachuvadu Pathippagam; Tamil-language
• Saroop Dhruv, Gujarati-language:
• * Hastkshep, Ahmedabad: Samvedan Sanskritic Manch, Ahmedabad
• * Sahiyara Suraj Ni Khoj Ma, Ahmedabad: Samvedan Sanskritic Manch
• Thangjam Ibopishak Singh, Manam, Imphal: Writer's Forum; Meitei language poet and academic
• Rustam, Rustam ki Kavitaen, a collection of poetry in Hindi,, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi.

  Poland

• Ewa Lipska, Ja ; Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie
• Bronisław Maj, Elegie, treny, sny; Kraków: Znak
• Czesław Miłosz, Orfeusz i Eurydyka ; Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie
• Tomasz Różycki, Świat i Antyświat, Warsaw: Lampa i Iskra Boża
• Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki:
• * Daleko stąd zostawiłem swoje dawne i niedawne ciało
• * Przyczynek do nauki o nieistnieniu
• Adam Zagajewski, Powrót, Kraków: a5
• Wisława Szymborska: Rymowanki dla dużych dzieci

  Other languages

• Pope John Paul II, Roman Triptych. Meditations, Polish poet published in the Vatican City and in Italian translation
• Inga Kuznetsova, Sni-Sinitsi, winner of the Triumph youth prize and the Moscow Score Award for best first book; Russia
• Marie Šťastná, Krajina s Ofélií, Czech Republic
• Yi Sha, Yi Sha shixuan, China

  Awards and honors

Australia

• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Emma Lew, Anything the Landlord Touches
• Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize: Mangroves by Laurie Duggan, University of Queensland Press
• Grace Leven Prize for Poetry: Stephen Edgar, Lost in the Foreground, Duffy & Snellgrove
• Ipswich Poetry Feast: RT Edwards Awards – Open - Other Poetry First Prize, Denis Kevans, Dots Before the Eyes; Chairperson’s Encouragement Award, Dan O’Donnell, Sydney’s Central Station
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Jill Jones, Screens Jets Heaven

  Canada

• Gerald Lampert Award: Kathy Mac, Nail Builders Plan for Strength and Growth
• Archibald Lampman Award: Shane Rhodes, Holding Pattern
• Atlantic Poetry Prize: Anne Compton, Opening the Island
• Governor General's Award for English-language poetry: Tim Lilburn, Kill-site
• Governor General's Award for French-language poetry: Pierre Nepveu, Lignes aériennes
• Griffin Poetry Prize Canada: Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot; International, in the English Language: Paul Muldoon, Moy sand and gravel
• Pat Lowther Award: Dionne Brand, thirsty
• Prix Alain-Grandbois: Danielle Fournier, Poèmes perdus en Hongrie
• Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: bill bissett, peter among th towring boxes / text bites
• Prix Émile-Nelligan: Jean-Simon DesRochers, Parle seul

  New Zealand

• Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
• Montana New Zealand Book Awards First-book award for poetry: Kay McKenzie Cooke, Feeding the Dogs, University of Otago Press

  United Kingdom

• Cholmondeley Award: Ciaran Carson, Michael Donaghy, Lavinia Greenlaw, Jackie Kay
• David Cohen Prize: Thom Gunn
• Eric Gregory Award: Jen Hadfield, Zoe Brigley, Paul Batchelor, Olivia Cole, Sasha Dugdale, Anna Woodford
• Forward Poetry Prize Best Collection: Ciaran Carson, Breaking News ; Best First Collection: A. B. Jackson, Fire Stations
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: U. A. Fanthorpe
• T. S. Eliot Prize : Don Paterson, Landing Light
• Whitbread Award for poetry: Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

  United States

• Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize awarded to David Shumate for High Water Mark
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, W.S. Merwin
• Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry, Julie Sheehan for “Brown-headed Cow Birds”
• Bollingen Prize for Poetry, Adrienne Rich
• Brittingham Prize in Poetry, Brian Teare, The Room Where I Was Born
• Frost Medal: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
• National Book Award for poetry: C.K. Williams, The Singing
• Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: Louise Glück appointed
• Pulitzer Prize for poetry : Paul Muldoon, Moy Sand and Gravel
• Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award: George T. Wright
• Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Linda Pastan
• Wallace Stevens Award: Richard Wilbur
• Whiting Awards: Major Jackson
• William Carlos Williams Award: Gary Young, No Other Life, Judge: Angela Jackson
• Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Li-Young Lee

  Deaths

• March 16 – Susan McGowan, Australian poet
• June 28 – Clem Christesen, Australian poet, founding editor of Meanjin
• July 6 – Kathleen Raine, English poet and literary scholar
• July 8 – Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Bengali poet
• July 9 – Josephine Jacobsen, American poet, short story writer and critic
• July 15 – Roberto Bolaño, 50, Chilean fiction writer, poet and essayist, liver disease
• August 7 – F. T. Prince, South African-English poet and academic
• September 3 – Alan Dugan, American poet
• October 26 – Heinz Piontek, German writer
• November 3 – Rasul Gamzatov, 80, Avarian/Soviet/Russian poet, "People's poet of Dagestan"
• November 27 – Talal al-Rasheed, 41?, Saudi poet
• December 12 – Fadwa Tuqan, 86, Palestinian poet
• December 23 – John Newlove, Canadian poet