The Academy of American Poets First Book Award is a poetry award administered by the Academy of American Poets. Named after poet Walt Whitman from 1975 to 2020, the award is based on a competition of book-length poetry manuscripts by American poets who have not yet published a book. The prize includes publication of the manuscript by Graywolf Press, distribution of the book though the Academy, a $5,000 cash prize, and an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in the Umbrian region of Italy.
The Library of Congress includes the Academy of American Poets First Book Award among distinctions noted for poets, as does The New York Times, which also occasionally publishes articles about new awards.
The award was established in 1975. In a New York Times opinion piece from 1985, the novelist John Barth noted that 1475 manuscripts had been entered into one of the Whitman Award competitions, which exceeded the number of subscribers to some poetry journals. From 1992 to 2015, Louisiana State University Press published each volume as part of its "Walt Whitman Award Series"; winning volumes are now published by Graywolf Press. The Academy purchases and distributes copies to its associate members, along with copies of the winning volume for the James Laughlin Award. Since the academy buys 6,000 copies for its members, and the average print run for a poet's first book is 3,000 copies, a Academy of American Poets First Book Award guarantees a best seller in the tiny poetry market.
Recipients Year Poet Book Judge2025Daniel Moysaenko Overtakelessness (Graywolf Press) Alberto Ríos2024Robin Walter Little Mercy (Graywolf Press) Victoria Chang2023 Sara Daniele Rivera The Blue Mimes (Graywolf Press) Eduardo C. Corral2022 Kweku Abimbola Saltwater Demands a Psalm (Graywolf Press) Tyehimba Jess2021 Kemi Alabi Against Heaven (Graywolf Press) Claudia Rankine2020 Threa Almontaser The Wild Fox of Yemen (Graywolf Press) Harryette Mullen2019 Leah Naomi Green The More Extravagant Feast (Graywolf Press) Li-Young Lee2018 Emily Skaja Brute (Graywolf Press) Joy Harjo2017 Jenny Xie Eye Level (Graywolf Press) Juan Felipe Herrera2016 Mai Der Vang Afterland (Graywolf Press) Carolyn Forché2015 Sjohnna McCray Rapture (Graywolf Press) Tracy K. Smith2014 Hannah Sanghee Park The Same-Different (LSU Press) Rae Armantrout2013 Chris Hosea Put Your Hands In (LSU Press) John Ashbery2012 Matt Rasmussen Black Aperture (LSU Press) Jane Hirshfield2011 Elana Bell Eyes, Stones (LSU Press) Fanny Howe 2010 Carl Adamshick Curses and Wishes (LSU Press) Marvin Bell 2009 J. Michael Martinez Heredities (LSU Press) Juan Felipe Herrera 2008 Jonathan Thirkield The Waker's Corridor (LSU Press) Linda Bierds2007 Sally Van Doren Sex at Noon Taxes (LSU Press) August Kleinzahler2006 Anne Pierson Wiese Floating City (LSU Press) Kay Ryan 2005 Mary Rose O'Reilley Half Wild (LSU Press) Mary Oliver 2004 Geri Doran Resin (LSU Press) Henri Cole 2003 Tony Tost Invisible Bride (LSU Press) Carolyn D. Wright 2002 Sue Kwock Kim Notes from the Divided Country (LSU Press) Yusef Komunyakaa 2001 John Canaday The Invisible World (LSU Press) Sherod Santos 2000 Ben Doller Radio, Radio (LSU Press) Susan Howe 1999 Judy Jordan Carolina Ghost Woods (LSU Press) James Tate1998 Jan Heller Levi Once I Gazed at You in Wonder (LSU Press) Alice Fulton 1997 Barbara Ras Bite Every Sorrow (LSU Press) C. K. Williams 1996 Joshua Clover Madonna anno domini (LSU Press) Jorie Graham 1995 Nicole Cooley Resurrection (LSU Press) Cynthia Macdonald 1994 Jan Richman Because the Brain Can Be Talked into Anything (LSU Press) Robert Pinsky 1993 Alison Hawthorne Deming Science and Other Poems (LSU Press) Gerald Stern 1992 Stephen Yenser The Fire in All Things (LSU Press) Richard Howard 1991 Greg Glazner From the Iron Chair (W. W. Norton) Charles Wright 1990 Elaine Terranova The Cult of the Right Hand (Doubleday) Rita Dove 1989 Martha Hollander The Game of Statues (Atlantic Monthly Press) W.S. Merwin 1988 April Bernard Blackbird Bye Bye (Random House) Amy Clampitt 1987 Judith Baumel The Weight of Numbers (Wesleyan U. Press) Mona Van Duyn 1986 Chris Llewellyn Fragments from the Fire (Viking) Maxine Kumin 1985 Christianne Balk Bindweed (Macmillan) Anthony Hecht 1984 Eric Pankey For the New Year (Atheneum) Mark Strand 1983 Christopher Gilbert Across the Mutual Landscape (Graywolf Press) Michael S. Harper 1982 Anthony Petrosky Jurgis Petraskas (Louisiana State University Press) Philip Levine 1981 Alberto Ríos Whispering to Fool the Wind (Sheep Meadow Press) Donald Justice 1980 Jared CarterWork, for the Night is Coming (Macmillan) Galway Kinnell 1979 David Bottoms Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump (Morrow) Robert Penn Warren 1978 Karen Snow Wonders (Viking) Louis Simpson 1977 Lauren Shakely Guilty Bystander (Random House) Diane Wakoski 1976 Laura Crafton Gilpin The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe (Doubleday) William Stafford 1975 Reg Saner Climbing into the Roots (Harper & Row) William Meredith
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