NEW YORK (AP) – A Yale University professor was named the winner Friday of the first annual Jackson Poetry Prize.
Elizabeth Alexander, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005 and author of four books of verse, will receive $50,000 for winning the award. It was established to honor talented poets who have not received major national acclaim.
The prize was announced Friday by sponsor Poets & Writers, Inc., which calls itself the nation’s largest nonprofit literary organization serving creative writers. Alexander was selected by a committee of three poets: Lucille Clifton, Stephen Dunn and Jane Hirshfield.
Alexander, a professor of African-American studies at Yale, was a Pulitzer finalist for her collection “American Sublime.” Her other books include “The Venus Hottentot,” “Body of Life” and “Antebellum Dream Book.”
The award is named for philanthropist and poet Susan Jackson, whose Liana Foundation donated the prize money, and her husband, John Jackson.
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