Naomi Shihab Nye has been named the winner of the 2023 Wallace Stevens Award, a prestigious honor that comes with a $100,000 prize. This award recognizes lifetime achievement and is named after the renowned 20th-century poet.
The Academy of American Poets announced the prize on Friday. Previous winners include notable poets like Louise Glück, John Ashbery, and Rita Dove. Nye, 72, is celebrated for her poetry collections, including Fuel, Yellow Queen, and her latest work, Grace Notes, released this year.
Academy Chancellor Afaa Michael Weaver praised Nye’s extensive body of work, stating, “In a stunning spectrum of works published in a period beginning nearly fifty years ago, Naomi Shihab Nye has borne witness to the complexities of cultural difference that connect us as human beings.” He highlighted her dedication to using poetry as a source of light and hope. Weaver also noted the importance of Nye’s Palestinian heritage in her work, especially in light of the ongoing conflict between Gaza and Israel.
Additionally, the Academy announced that Evie Shockley received the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, which includes a $25,000 stipend and a residency at the Eliot House in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Previous winners of this fellowship include Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, and Claudia Rankine.
Shockley’s poetry collection, suddenly we, was a finalist for the National Book Award last year. She has also published semiautomatic, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2018. Academy Chancellor Ed Roberson praised her work, saying, “In her poetry, she uses the persons of history in the way that other writers and landscape painters use the colors of the light on things to create space and time.”
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