American writer and poet (born 1959)
Carl Phillips (born 23 July 1959)
[1] is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English at
Washington University in St. Louis .
[2] In 2023, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020.
[3]
[4]
[5]
Early life
Phillips was born in Everett, Washington. He was born a child of a military family, moving year-by-year until finally settling in his high-school years on
Cape Cod ,
Massachusetts . A graduate of
Harvard University , the
University of Massachusetts Amherst , and
Boston University , Phillips taught high-school Latin for eight years.
Works
His first collection of poems, In the Blood , won the 1992
Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize, and his second book, Cortège , was nominated for a 1995
National Book Critics Circle Award. His Pastoral won the 2001
Lambda Literary Award for Best Poetry.
[6] Phillips' work has been published in the
Yale Review ,
Atlantic Monthly ,
The New Yorker and the
Paris Review . He was named a
Witter Bynner Fellowshipin 1998 and in 2006, he was named the recipient of the Fellowship of the
Academy of American Poets , given in memory of
James Merrill .
In 2002, Phillips received the
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award , for The Tether.
[7] In 2004, he published All It Takes . He won the
Thom Gunn Award in 2005 for The Rest of Love .
His poems, which include themes of spirituality, sexuality, mortality, and faith,
[2] are featured in American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006) and many other anthologies.
In 2015, Phillips released his 13th collection of poems, Reconnaissance , which was nominated for an
NAACP Image Award for Best Poetry and appeared on the Top Books list from Canada's
The Globe and Mail . Phillips was also a featured poet in the "Picture and a Poem" series for
T: The New York Times Style Magazine in December 2015. Reconnaissance won the
Lambda Literary Award
[8] and the
PEN Center USA Award.
[9]
Philips latest book to be published, Then the War: And Selected Poems (2022), won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023.
[10] Then the War is luminous testimony to the power of self-reckoning and to Carl Phillips as an ever-changing, necessary voice in contemporary poetry.
[11]
Recognition
Phillips is a four-time finalist for the National Book Award.
[12] He received the 2002 Kingsley Tufts Award
[13] and the 2021
Jackson Poetry Prize .
[14] He was also the named a winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
[15]
Phillips was a judge for the 2010
Griffin Poetry Prize .
In April 2010, he was named as the new judge of the
Yale Series of Younger Poets , replacing
Louise Gluck .
In 2011, he was appointed to the judging panel for
The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards .
[16] His collection of poetry, Double Shadow , was a finalist for the 2011
National Book Award for poetry.
[17] Double Shadow won the 2011
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Poetry category).
Phillips was a Chancellor of the
Academy of American Poets from 2008 to 2012.
[18] and he was nominated for the 2014
Griffin Poetry Prize for Silverchest .
The Board of Trustees of The Kenyon Review honored Carl Phillips as the
2013 recipient of the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement .
[19] Philips has also held fellowships from the Gtuggenheim Foundation, the Library of Congress, and the Academy of American Poets, for which he served as chancellor from 2006-2012.
[20]
Selected bibliography
In the Blood . UPNE, 1992; selected and introduced by
Rachel Hadas .
ISBN
9781555531355
Cortège , Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1995,
ISBN
9781555972301
From the Devotions , Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1998,
ISBN
9781555972639
Pastoral , Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 2000,
ISBN
9781555972981
The Tether , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001,
ISBN
9780374267933
Rock Harbor , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002,
ISBN
9780374528850
The Rest of Love , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004,
ISBN
9780374249533
Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Art and Life of Poetry , Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 2004,
ISBN
9781555974015
Riding Westward: Poems . Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2006.
ISBN
978-0-374-53082-2 .
Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems, 1986–2006 . Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2007.
ISBN
978-0-374-53078-5 .
Speak Low , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009,
ISBN
9780374267162
Double Shadow , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011,
ISBN
9780374141578
Silverchest , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013,
ISBN
9780374261214
The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2014,
ISBN
978-1-55597-681-1 (print),
ISBN
978-1-55597-093-2 (eBook)
Reconnaissance: Poems , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015,
ISBN
9780374248284
Wild Is the Wind , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018,
ISBN
9780374290269
Pale Colors in a Tall Field , New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020,
ISBN
9780374229054
Critical studies, reviews and biography
References
^ Poets, Academy of American.
"Carl Phillips" . Poets.org . Retrieved December 19, 2023 .
^
a
b
"Faculty Experts at Washington University in St. Louis: Carl Phillips" .
Washington University in St. Louis .
Archived from the original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2007 .
^
"Washington University professor wins Pulitzer Prize in poetry" . ksdk.com . May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 .
^ Henderson, Jane (May 8, 2023).
"Carl Phillips of Washington University wins Pulitzer Prize for poetry" . STLtoday.com . Retrieved May 10, 2023 .
^
"Wash U professor Carl Phillips wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Hear him read 'Then the War' " . STLPR . May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023 .
^
"Selected Awards and Honors" . Graywolf Press. Archived from
the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-26 .
^
"Previous Winners & Finalists"
Archived July 8, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine , Tufts Poetry Awards, Claremont Graduate School.
^
"28th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners"
Archived November 24, 2018, at the
Wayback Machine , LAMBDA Literary.
^
"Announcing the Winners of PEN Center USA' 2016 Literary Awards"
Archived August 27, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine , Literary Hub , August 25, 2016.
^ Foundation, Poetry (December 19, 2023).
"Carl Phillips" . Poetry Foundation . Retrieved December 19, 2023 .
^
"Then the War" . Carl Phillips . Retrieved December 19, 2023 .
^
"National Book Foundation - Browse Awards by Year" . National Book Award .
Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023 .
^
"Previous Winners & Finalists" . Kingsley Tufts Award .
Archived from the original on June 12, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2023 .
^
"Carl Phillips Wins Jackson Poetry Prize $75,000 Award" . Poets & Writers.
Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 .
^ English, Department of.
"Faculty" . Department of English . Retrieved December 19, 2023 .
^
"Judges"
Archived January 13, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine , Tufts Poetry Awards, Claremont Graduate School.
^
"National Book Awards - 2011"
Archived November 21, 2018, at the
Wayback Machine , National Book Foundation.
^
"Chancellors" . Academy of American Poets.
Archived from the original on January 28, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2016 .
^
"Kenyon Review for Literary Achievement" . KenyonReview.org . Archived from
the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2017 .
^ English, Department of.
"Faculty" . Department of English . Retrieved December 19, 2023 .
External links
International National Other
Pulitzers by Year Categories
Journalism Letters, Drama, & Music
1922–1950
1951–1975
1976–2000
2001–2025