The longlist for the National Book Award for Poetry has been released, with 10 collections in the running for the annual prize.
The longlist is heavy on new faces, with only one previous finalist for the prize nominated this year: Patricia Smith, making the list for The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems, published by Scribner.
Three of this year’s nominated collections are published by indie press Copper Canyon: The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero, and I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken.
Two other independent publishers were represented, as well as a university press: Cold Thief Place by Esther Lin (Alice James Books), TERROR COUNTER by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi (Deep Vellum Publishing), and Death Does Not End at the Sea by Gbenga Adesina (University of Nebraska Press).
Also making the longlist were Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che and Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark, both published by Washington Square Press, and Death of the First Idea by Rickey Laurentiis (Knopf).
Previous winners of the National Book Award for Poetry include James Dickey for Buckdancer’s Choice, Lucille Clifton for Blessing the Boats, and Don Mee Choi for DMZ Colony.
The shortlist for the award will be revealed on October 7, with the winner announced at a New York ceremony on November 19.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
