Bill Murray Reads Poems to Poets House Construction Workers
Members of the construction team which built Poets House's new home were joined by actor Bill Murray for the first poetry reading at 10 River Terrace. Take a look:
Harryette Mullen Wins $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize
Poets & Writers Inc. has announced that Harryette Mullen won a $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize. The $50,000 prize honors an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition.
The judges described Ms. Mullen's poems as "brilliant and enigmatic, familiar and subversive. Like jewels, her poems are multifaceted and shoot off lights. Mullen uses the techniques of sound association, innuendo, and signifying, and this way makes the reader alert to the cunning of the English language."
You can read more about Harryette Mullen here, here, here and here.
Ted Hughes Given Permanent Memorial in Westminster Abbey
The BBC reports that poet Ted Hughes will be recognized with a permanent memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
His name will feature alongside some of the country's best-loved poets including T.S. Eliot, William Blake and William Wordsworth.
The former poet laureate, who died in 1998, was accepted for the honour by the Dean of Westminster, Dr John Hall.
Dr Hall said it was "right" that Hughes should be remembered for hundreds of years to come.
Ted Hughes was the British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998. You can read more about the Westminster Abbey Poet's Corner here.
The BBC reports that a "once in a lifetime" lineup of poets helped raise money for Haiti in an event organized by UK's poet laureate Carol Anne Duffy. The event was held at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh.
Ms Duffy, one of the main organisers of the event, admitted that "poetry makes nothing happen."
But she said it "has the power of prayer and is the place in language where we are at our most human."
She added: "The people of Haiti need our humanity right now."
The BBC says the event was sold out. Money raised by the event will go to Mercy Corps.
The BBC reports that a dig may find the remains of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. The excavation is taking place in a remote spot between the Andalucian villages of Viznar and Alfacar. It is where Lorca is believed to have been murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War. A historian believe his body could determine if he was tortured before he died.
"If they discover him it will lay a ghost to rest," says Ian Gibson, a Madrid-based historian who has penned a biography on Lorca.
"Through finding him, we will learn more. I think he was tortured before they finished him off.
"There may be bullets inside the grave, and who knows what else. It is vital that we find and open it."
Reuters reports that Seamus Heaney has won the 40,000 pound ($56,000) David Cohen Prize for poetry.
"Much about the David Cohen Prize makes it highly honorific," Heaney, 69, said in a statement.
"First of all there's the list of the previous winners, a roll call of the best; there's the fact that you don't enter for it but are chosen from the wide field of your contemporaries."
Poet laureate Andrew Motion, who chaired a panel of judges, said Heaney's poems had "crystallized the story of our times.
"The self-renewing force of his writing, and the sheer scale of his achievement make the award of the Cohen Prize an absolutely right and proper act of recognition," Motion said.
The judges said the liked the "self-renewing force" of Heaney's. Heaney also won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995 "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past."
Poets & Writers has received the largest donation in its 38-year history. The Liana Foundation (established by the John and Susan Jackson Family) are donating $2 million to endow the Jackson Poetry Prize. The annual $50,000 prize, which was initiated in 2007, honors an American poet of exceptional talent who has published at least one book of recognized literary merit but has not yet received major national acclaim. The award is designed to provide what all poets need– time and the encouragement to write.
"Receiving this generous gift during such a challenging time reminds us of the importance of literature," said Elliot Figman, Executive Director of Poets & Writers.
Alex Boyd, Anne Simpson Wins Lowther and Lampert Prizes
The Canadian Press reports that Alex Boyd and Anne Simpson have won the 2008 Pat Lowther and Gerald Lampert Memorial Awards.
Boyd was the winner of the $1,000 Lampert award for his book "Making Bones Walk" (Luna Publications), which the judges said was "rich with innovative language and Boyd's very original way of looking at the world."
The Lampert award recognizes the best first book of poetry published by a Canadian in the preceding year. Lampert was an arts administrator who organized authors' tours and took an interest in the work of new writers.
Simpson won the $1,000 Lowther award for "Quick" (McClelland & Stewart). The judges said her poems have "extraordinary range, intelligence and empathy."
The awards were announced at the League of Canadian Poets annual conference. You can find background about Pat Lowther here. Information about the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award can be found here.
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Reuters 
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