The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is awarded annually by The Poetry Foundation, which also publishes Poetry magazine. The prize was established in 1986 by Ruth Lilly. It honors a living U.S. poet whose "lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition"; its value is $100,000 [1] [2] making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The prize has been called "among the most prestigious awards that can be won by an American poet". [3]
The following list is based on the listing by the Poetry Foundation. [4] [5]
1986:
Adrienne Rich
1987:
Philip Levine
1988:
Anthony Hecht
1989:
Mona Van Duyn
1990:
Hayden Carruth
1991:
David Wagoner
1992:
John Ashbery
1993:
Charles Wright
1994:
Donald Hall
1995:
A. R. Ammons
1996:
Gerald Stern
1997:
William Matthews
1998:
W. S. Merwin
1999:
Maxine Kumin
2000:
Carl Dennis
2001:
Yusef Komunyakaa
2002:
Lisel Mueller
2003:
Linda Pastan
2004:
Kay Ryan
2005:
C. K. Williams
2006:
Richard Wilbur
2007:
Lucille Clifton
2008:
Gary Snyder
2009:
Fanny Howe
2010:
Eleanor Ross Taylor
2011:
David Ferry
[6]
2012:
W. S. Di Piero
[7]
2013:
Marie Ponsot
[8]
2014:
Nathaniel Mackey
[9]
2015:
Alice Notley
[10]
2016:
Ed Roberson
2017:
Joy Harjo
2018:
Martín Espada
[11]
2019:
Marilyn Nelson
2020:
Marilyn Chin
[12]
2021:
Patricia Smith
2022:
Sandra Cisneros,
CAConrad,
Rita Dove,
Nikki Giovanni,
Juan Felipe Herrera,
Angela Jackson,
Haki R. Madhubuti,
Sharon Olds,
Sonia Sanchez,
Patti Smith and
Arthur Sze
[13]
2023:
Kimiko Hahn
[14]