2008 in poetry

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List of years in poetry       (table)
… 1998 .  1999 .  2000 .  2001  . 2002  . 2003  . 2004 … 2005 2006 2007 -2008- 2009 2010 2011 … 2012 .  2013 .  2014 .  2015  . 2016  . 2017  . 2018 …    In literature: 2005 2006 2007 -2008- 2009 2010 2011
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Contents 1 Events 2 Works published in English 2.1 Canada 2.2 Ireland 2.3 New Zealand 2.3.1 Best New Zealand Poetry 2007 2.4 United Kingdom 2.4.1 Anthologies in the United Kingdom 2.5 United States 2.5.1 Anthologies in the United States 2.5.2 Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States 2.5.3 Poets in The Best American Poetry 2008 3 Works published in other languages 4 Awards and honors 4.1 Australia awards and honors 4.2 Canada awards and honors 4.3 New Zealand awards and honors 4.4 United Kingdom awards and honors 4.5 United States awards and honors 4.5.1 From the Poetry Society of America 5 Deaths 6 Notes 7 See also

[edit] Events

• June — the release in the United Kingdom of a new film, The Edge of Love, Dylan Thomas' relationship with two women, starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys (asThomas)^[1]
• September — A United Kingdom exam board, Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, asked schools to withdraw copies of its anthology which contain the poem, Education for Leisure by Carol Ann Duffy after some teachers complained about the poem’s reference to knives. Other teachers opposed the move, and Duffy respoded with a new poem, Mrs Schofield’s GCSE.^[1]
• December 15 – the American Academy of Arts and Sciences begins awarding the May Sarton prize. Five "emerging poets" each year will will receive a $2,000 honorarium and an opportunity to have their work published in the Academy’s journal, Daedalus (for winners, see "Awards and honors" section, below).^[2]

[edit] Works published in English

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

[edit] Canada

• Kyle Buckley, The Laundromat Essay, a long poem (Coach House Books) ISBN 9781552452066
• Margaret Christakos, What Stirs, (Coach House Books) ISBN 9781-552452042
• Jen Currin, Hagiography (Coach House Books) ISBN 9781552451977
• Jeramy Dodds, Crabwise to the Hounds (Coach House Books) ISBN 9781552452059^[3]
• Randall Maggs, Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems (Brick Books) ISBN 978-1894078627
• Nancy Holmes, Open Wide a Wilderness: Canadian Nature Poems, Wilfrid Laurier University Press ISBN 978-1554580330
• Jordan Scott, Blert (Coach House Books) ISBN 9781552451991
• David Silverberg, editor, Mic Check: An Anthology Of Canadian Spoken Word Poetry, Quattro Books, ISBN 978-0978280659
• Todd Swift, Seaway: New and Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry) ISBN 9781903392928
• R. M. Vaughan, Troubled, (Coach House Books) ISBN 9781552451984

[edit] Ireland

• Guzstáv Báger, Object Found, translated by Thomas Kabdebo; Hungarian poet published in Ireland (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392782
• Ciaran Berry, The Sphere of Birds, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 9781852354428
• Andrew Carpenter, editor, Thornfield: Poems by the Thornfield Poets (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392799 (anthology)
• Ciaran Carson:
  • Collected Poems, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 9781852354336
  • For All We Know, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 9781852354404 ISBN 9781852354398 ^[3]
• Eileen Casey, Drinking the Colour Blue
• Gerald Dawe, Points West, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 9781852354473
• Frank Golden, In Daily Accord (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392751
• Maurice Harmon, The Mischievous Boy and other poems (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392867
• Anne Le Marquand Hartigan, To Keep the Light Burning: Reflections in Times of Loss, poetry and prose (Salmon Poetry) ISBN 9781903392966
• Kevin Higgins (poet), Time Gentlemen, Please (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392768
• Peter van de Kamp, In Train, Dutch native living in Ireland (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392850
• Caroline Lynch, Lost in the Gaeltacht (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392843
• Alan Jude Moore, Lost Republics (Salmon Poetry) ISBN 9781903392935
• Patrick Moran (poet), Green (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392959
• Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin: Selected Poems Gallery Press, London: Oldcastle and Faber, Irish work published in the United Kingdom^[4]
• Nuala Ni Dhomhnail, The Fifty Minute Mermaid, translated from Irish by Paul Muldoon, Gallery Press, ISBN 1852353740^[3]
• Ulick O'Connor, The Kiss: New and Selected Poems and Translations (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392973
• Lorna Shaughnessy, Torching the Brown River (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392775
• Eamon Wall, A Tour of Your Country Irish native living in the United States, published in Ireland (Salmon Press) ISBN 9781903392805

[edit] New Zealand

• Kevin Ireland, How To Survive The Morning, Cape Catley Ltd, ISBN 9781877340178
• Vladimir Nabokov (posthumous), edited by Brian Boyd (New Zealand academic) and Stanislav Shvabrin, ' 'Verses and Versions: Three Centuries of Russian Poetry Selected and translated by Vladimir Nabokov' ', English translations of Russian poetry, presented next to the Russian originals, Harcourt (published in the United States)

[edit] Best New Zealand Poetry 2007

The year's guest editor, who chose 25 poems for inclusion, was Paula Green. The list appeared at the series website in February 2008.^[5]

Johanna Aitchison Angela Andrews Serie (Cherie) Barford Sarah Jane Barnett Jenny Bornholdt

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell Janet Charman Geoff Cochrane Fiona Farrell Cliff Fell

Bernadette Hall Anna Jackson Andrew Johnston Anne Kennedy Jessica Le Bas

Dora Malech Alice Miller Emma Neale Vincent O’Sullivan Vivienne Plumb

Richard Reeve Elizabeth Smither C. K. Stead Robert Sullivan Alison Wong

[edit] United Kingdom

• Mourid Barghouti, Midnight and Other Poems, translated by Radwa Ashour, Palestinian poet published in the United Kingdom (Arc Publications), ISBN 9781906570088
• Marck L. Beggs, Catastrophic Chords (Salmon Poetry) ISBN 9781903392898
• Felix Dennis, Homeless in my Heart, Ebury Press (Random House), ISBN 0091928001
• Anne Gorrick, Kyotologic, Shearsman Books, ISBN 978-1848610040 ^[3] (American, published in the United Kingdom)
• Liam Guilar, Lady Godiva and Me (Nine Arches Press) ISBN 9780956055910
• David Harsent, Selected Poems 1969-2005, ISBN 9780571234011^[3]
• Clive James, Angels Over Elsinore: Collected Verse 2003-2008 (Picador)
• Ira Lightman, Duetcetera (Shearsman Books) ISBN 9781848610118
• Robert Minhinnick, King Driftwood, Carcanet ISBN 9781857549652 ^[3] Welsh poet, writing in English
• Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin: Selected Poems Gallery Press, London: Oldcastle and Faber, Irish work published in the United Kingdom^[4]
• Sean O'Brien, Andrew Marvell: poems selected by Sean O'Brien (Poet to Poet series, Faber and Faber)
• Avi Sharon, translator, Constantine Cavafy, The Selected Poems of Cavafy, Penguin Classic, ISBN 9780141185613
• Ruth Thompson (poet), The Flaggy Shore, (bluechrome Publishing) ISBN 9781906061593 Northern Irish poet published in United Kingdom
• Rab Wilson, Life Sentence: More Poems Chiefly in the Scots Dialect (Luath Press Ltd) ISBN 9781906307899

[edit] Anthologies in the United Kingdom

• Lesley Duncan, editor, 100 Favourite Poems of the Day (Luath Press Ltd) ISBN 9781906307080
• Mark Richardson, editor, The Big Green Poetry Machine Poems from Scotland (Young Writers) ISBN 9781844317875
• Jeet Thayil, editor, The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, Bloodaxe Books ISBN 9781852248017
• Forward Book of Poetry 2009 (published October 2008), Faber and Faber, ISBN 9780571243969

[edit] United States

• Rae Armantrout, Complete Early Poems, (Green Integer) ^[6]
• Mary Jo Bang, Elegy, Graywolf Press
• Ed Barrett, Bosston, Boston: Pressed Wafer, ISBN 9780978515645 ^[3]
• Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival (Macmillan/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux), ISBN 9780374286033
• Charles Bukowski, The People Look Like Flowers At Last: New Poems, purportedly the "fifth and final" posthumous collection
• William Corbett, Opening Day (Hanging Loose Press, 2008)
• Robert Creeley, Selected Poems, 1945-2005, edited by Benjamin Friedlander, University of California Press
• Mark Doty:
  • Theories and Apparitions, London: Jonathan Cape^[7]
  • Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, New York, HarperCollins^[7]
• Reginald Gibbons, Creatures of a Day, Louisiana State Univeristy Press, ISBN 0807133183^[3]
• Anne Gorrick, Kyotologic, Shearsman Books, ISBN 978-1848610040 ^[3] (American, published in the United Kingdom)
• Jorie Graham, Sea Change Ecco/HarperCollins
• Geoffrey Hill, A Treatise of Civil Power, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0300131499
• John Hollander, A Draft of Light, Knopf (in May), his 19th book of poems
• Richard Howard, Without Saying (Turtle Point Press) ISBN 9781933527147
• Devin Johnston, Sources, (Turtle Point Press)
• George Johnston, The Essential George Johnston, selected by Robyn Sarah, The Porcupine’s Quill, ISBN 9780889842991 ^[3]
• August Kleinzahler, ' 'Sleeping It Off in Rapid City' ', Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Ted Kooser, Valentines, University of Nebraska Press
• David Lehman, editor, The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present (anthology), Scribner
• Sarah Lindsay, Twigs and Knucklebones, Copper Canyon Press^[3]
• Jackson Mac Low, Thing of Beauty: New and Selected Works (edited by Anne Tardos), (University of California Press)
• James Merrill, Selected Poems, edited by J. D. McClatchy and Stephen Yenser (Alfred A. Knopf)
• George Oppen, Selected Prose, Daybooks, and Papers (edited by Stephen Cope), (University of California Press) (publication was 2007, but not available until 2008)
• Peter Oresick, Warhol-o-rama, Carnegie Mellon University Press^[8]
• Danielle Pafunda, ' 'My Zorba' ', Bloof Books
• Grace Paley, Fidelity (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), posthumous
• Kenneth Patchen, The Walking-Away World, New Directions, ISBN 9780811217576 ^[3] (posthumous)
• Alan Michael Parker, Elephants & Butterflies, BOA Editions, ISBN 9781934414057 ^[3]
• Jacqueline Risset, Sleep's Powers, translated from French by Jennifer Moxley, Ugly Duckling Presse ISBN 978-1933254425 ^[3]
• Aram Saroyan, Complete Minimal Poems, Ugly Duckling Presse ISBN 978-1933254258
• Leslie Scalapino, It’s go in horizontal: Selected Poems, 1974-2006, (University of California Press)
• Susan M. Schultz, Dementia Blog, (Singing Horse Press)
• Ron Silliman, The Alphabet, University of Alabama Press, ISBN 9780817354930 ^[3][9]
• Jack Spicer, my vocabulary did this to me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer, edited by Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian, Wesleyan University Press, ISBN 9780819568878 (posthumous)^[3]
• Frank Stanford:
  • The Singing Knives, (Lost Roads, 1979 & 2008)
  • You, (Lost Roads, 1979 & 2008)
• David Wagoner, A Map of the Night (University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0252075674)
• Francis X. Walker, When Winter Come: The Ascension of York, University of Kentucky Press
• John Witte, Second Nature, University of Washington Press, ISBN 9780295988597
• Mark Yakich, The Importance of Peeling Potatoes in Ukraine, Penguin

[edit] Anthologies in the United States

• Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal, editors, Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond,W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 9780393332384
• Vladimir Nabokov (posthumous), edited by Brian Boyd and Stanislav Shvabrin, Verses and Versions: Three Centuries of Russian Poetry Selected and translated by Vladimir Nabokov, English translations of Russian poetry, presented next to the Russian originals, Harcourt
• Leslie Pockell and Celia Johnson, editors, 100 Poems to Lift Your Spirits, Grand Central Publishing, ISBN 9780446177955
• Reginald Shepherd, editor, Lyric Postmodernisms: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetries, Counterpath Press, ISBN 9781933996066
• Jason Shinder, John Lithgow, Billy Collins, editors, The Poem I Turn To: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them, ISBN 9781402205026
• Mark Strand and Jeb Livingood, editors, Best New Poets 2008, including work by Zach Savich, Heidi Poon, and Malachi Black
• Carolyne Wright, editor and translator, Majestic Nights: Love Poems of Bengali Women, Buffalo, New York: White Pine Press, ISBN 9781893996939

[edit] Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States

• Michael Almereyda, editor, Night Wraps the Sky: Writings by and about Mayakovsky (Macmillan/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), ISBN 9780374281359
• Robert Frost, The Collected Prose of Robert Frost, edited by Mark Richardson; Frost was reluctant to publish his collected prose and even said he lost his notes to the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures he delivered at Harvard in 1936 (Harvard University Press)
• Donald Hall, Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry, Houghton Mifflin
• Michael Heller, Speaking the Estranged: Essays on the Work of George Oppen, Cambridge UK: Salt Publishing
• Michael Palmer, Active Boundaries: Selected Essays and Talks, New Directions (New York, NY), 2008. ISBN 081121754X
• Reginald Shepherd, Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry, University of Michigan Press
• Jan Ziolkowski and Bridget K. Balint, editors, A Garland of Satire, Wisdom, and History: Latin Verse from Twelfth-Century France (Carmina Houghtoniensia), Harvard University Press, ISBN 0976547279 ISBN 9780976547273

[edit] Poets in The Best American Poetry 2008

These poets appeared in The Best American Poetry 2008, with David Lehman, general editor, and Charles Wright, guest editor (who selected the poetry) (Scribner ISBN 0743299736):

Tom Andrews Ralph Angel Rae Armantrout John Ashbery Joshua Beckman Marvin Bell Charles Bernstein Ciaran Berry Frank Bidart Robert Bly John Casteen Laura Cronk

Kate Daniels Lydia Davis Erica Dawson Cornelius Eady Moira Egan Peter Everwine Carolyn Forche Chris Forhan John Gallaher James Galvin Louise Gluck Robert Hass

Bob Hicok Brenda Hillman Tony Hoagland Garrett Hongo Richard Howard Mark Jarman George Kalamars Mary Karr Maxine Kumin Adrie Kusserow Alex Lemon Philip Levine

J.D. McClatchy Davis McCombs W. S. Merwin Susan Mitchell Paul Muldoon D. Nurkse Debra Nystrom Meghan O'Rourke Ron Padgett Michael Palmer D. A. Powell Alberto Rios

Tim Ross John Rybicki Ira Sadoff Sherod Santos Frederick Seidel Charles Simic R. T. Smith Patti Smith Dave Snyder Lisa Ross Sparr David St. John Kathryn Starbuck

Alan Sullivan Chad Sweeney Mary Szybist James Tate Natasha Trethewey Lee Upton Dara Wier C. K. Williams Franz Wright Lynn Xu C. Dale Young

David Young Dean Young Kevin Young

[edit] Works published in other languages

• Tarawa Machi, Japanese tanka poet, translated into French by Yves-Marie Allioux, Salad Anniversary ("L'Anniversaire de la Salade), Editions Philippe Picquier
• Pia Tafdrup, Boomerang, Copenhagen: Gyldendal Publishers, Denmark

[edit] Awards and honors

[edit] Australia awards and honors

• C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry:
• Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry:

[edit] Canada awards and honors

• Archibald Lampman Award:
• Atlantic Poetry Prize:
• Griffin Poetry Prize: Canadian:
• Griffin Poetry Prize: International, in the English Language: John Ashbery, Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems (HarperCollins Publishers/Ecco)
  • Others on the shortlist: David Harsent, Selected Poems 1969-2005 (Faber); Elaine Equi, Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems (Coffee House Press); Clayton Eshleman, translating from the Spanish by César Vallejo, The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition (University of California Press)
• Pat Lowther Award:
• Prix Alain-Grandbois:
• Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award:

[edit] New Zealand awards and honors

• Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement:
• Montana New Zealand Book Awards (poetry category):

[edit] United Kingdom awards and honors

• Cholmondeley Award: John Burnside, David Harsent, John Greening and Sarah Maguire
• Costa Award (formerly "Whitbread Awards") for poetry: Jean Sprackland, Tilt (Cape)
  • Shortlist (announced in November 2007): Ian Duhig, The Speed of Dark, John Fuller, The Space of Joy, Daljit Nagra, Look We Have Coming to Dover!
• English Association's Fellows' Poetry Prizes: Tony Flynn (first prize), Kim Rooney (second prize) and Peter Cash and Simon Jackson (joint third prize)
• Eric Gregory Award (for a collection of poems by a poet under the age of 30): Emily Berry, Rhiannon Hooson, James Midgley, Adam O’Riordan and Heather Phillipson
• Forward Poetry Prize:
  • Best Collection:
    • Shortlist: Sujata Bhatt, Pure Lizard (Carcanet); Jane Griffiths, Another Country (Bloodaxe); Jen Hadfield, Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe); Mick Imlah, The Lost Leader (Faber), Jamie McKendrick, Crocodiles & Obelisks (Faber); and Catherine Smith, Lip (Smith/Doorstop)
  • Best First Collection:
    • Shortlist: Simon Barraclough, Andrew Forster, Frances Leviston, Allison McVety, Stephanie Norgate and Kathryn Simmonds
• Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize for poetry:
  • Shortlist: Paul Batchelor, The Sinking Road (Bloodaxe Books); Ciaran Berry, The Sphere of Birds (Gallery Press); Adam Foulds, The Broken Word (Cape Poetry); Frances Leviston, Public Dream (Picador Poetry); Stephanie Norgate, Hidden River (Bloodaxe Books)
• Manchester Poetry Prize: Lesley Saunders and Mandy Coe
• National Poet of Wales: Gillian Clarke succeeds Gwyn Thomas
• National Poetry Competition 2007:
• T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland): Sean O'Brien The Drowned Book (Judges: Peter Porter, W. N. Herbert and Sujata Bhatt)
  • Shortlist (announced in November 2007): Ian Duhig, Alan Gillis, Sophie Hannah, Mimi Khalvati, Frances Leviston, Sarah Maguire, Edwin Morgan, Poetry Review's Fiona Sampson, and Matthew Sweeney
• The Times/Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation:
• Wigtown Poetry Competition (Scotland's largest poetry prize): Jane Weir, first prize

[edit] United States awards and honors

• Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize: Henri Cole for Blackbird and Wolf
• National Book Award for Poetry: Mark Doty for Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems
• The New Criterion Poetry Prize:
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (United States): Robert Hass for Time and Materials; and Philip Schultz for Failure
• Wallace Stevens Award: Louise Gluck
• PEN Award for Poetry in Translation: Rosmarie Waldrop for Lingos I - IX by Ulf Stolterfoht (Burning Deck, 2007)
• Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize : Gary Snyder
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences prize for poetry: Ada Collins, Matthew Dickman, Dawn Lundy Martin, Meghan O'Rourke, Matthew Zapruder; Judges (all fellows of the Academy): Paul Muldoon, Carl Phillips, Charles Simic, C. D. Wright, and [[Adam Zagajewski]

[edit] From the Poetry Society of America

• Frost Medal: Michael S. Harper

• Shelley Memorial Award: Ed Roberson, Judges: Lyn Hejinian & C.D. Wright

• Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award: Joanie Mackowski, Judge: Donald Revell

• Lyric Poetry Award: Wayne Miller, Judge: Elizabeth Macklin

• Lucille Medwick Memorial Award: Christina Pugh, Judge: Timothy Donnelly; finalist: Sally Ball

• Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award: Natasha Sajé, Judge: Dean Young; finalists: Kevin Prufer & James Richardson

• Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award: Carey Powers, Judge: David Roderick; finalists: Willa Granger & Philip Sparks

• George Bogin Memorial Award: Theresa Sotto, Judge: by Prageeta Sharma

• Robert H. Winner Memorial Award: Jocelyn Emerson, Judge: by Annie Finch; finalists: Rachel Conrad & Marsha Pomerantz

• Cecil Hemley Memorial Award: Brian Henry, Judge: Norma Cole

• Norma Farber First Book Award: Catherine Imbriglio for Parts of the Mass, published by Burning Deck, Judge: Thylias Moss); finalist: Alena Hairston for The Logan Topographies, published by Persea

• William Carlos Williams Award: Aram Saroyan for Complete Minimal Poems, published by Ugly Duckling Presse; Judge: Ron Silliman; finalists: Roberta Beary for The Unworn Necklace, published by Snapshot Press; and Eileen Myles for Sorry, Tree, published by Wave Books

[edit] Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• January 1 – Wanda Sieradzka de Ruig, 85, Polish author, poet, journalist and translator. [14] [15] (Polish)
• January 3:
  • Henri Chopin, 85, French poet
  • Petru Dugulescu, 62, Romanian Baptist pastor, poet and politician, heart attack. [16]
  • John O'Donohue, 52, Irish poet, philosopher and priest [17]
• January 4 – Stig Claesson (born 1928), Swedish
• January 5 – Rowan Ayers (born 1922) English television producer and poet
• January 12:
  • Ángel González, 82, Spanish [18]
  • Adriano González León, 76, Venezualan writer and poet
• January 16 – Hone Tuwhare, 85, New Zealander [19]
• January 21 – Burton Hatlen, 71, American scholar, founding member of the National Poetry Foundation, mentor and teacher to Stephen King, who promoted the work of the Objectivist poets ^{[10] [11]}
• February 7 – Frank Geerk (born 1946), German
• February 13 – Raúl Salinas, 73, American poet, complications of liver cancer^[12]
• February 28 – Max Nord (born 1916)) Dutch
• March 10 – Ana Kalandadze, 83, Georgian^[13]
• March 16 – Jonathan Williams, 79, American poet, publisher and founder of The Jargon Society
• March 19 – Hugo Claus (born 1929), Belgian-Dutch novelist, poet, playwright, painter, film director writing primarily in Flemish
• March 23 – E. A. Markham, 68, Montserrat-born British poet and writer. [20]
• March 26 – Robert Fagles, 74, American professor, poet and translator of ancient epics, prostate cancer. [21]
• April 3 – Andrew Crozier, 64, English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival , with connections to American poetry, who edited volumes by American poet Carl Rakosi After Rakosi's Selected Poems, published in 1941, Rakosi dedicated himself to social work and apparently neither read nor wrote any poetry at all. A letter from Crozier to Rakosi asking about his early poetry was the trigger that started Rakosi writing again. His first book in 26 years, Amulet was published by New Directions in 1967 and his Collected Poems in 1986 by the National Poetry Foundation; of a brain tumour. [22]
• April 13 – Robert Greacen, 87, Irish poet [23]
• April 14 – Horst Bingel (born 1933), German writer, poet, graphic artist and publisher
• April 15 – Parvin Dowlatabadi, 84, Iranian children's author and poet, of heart attack [24]
• April 17:
  • Aimé Césaire, 94, French-Martiniquan poet and politician^[14]
  • April 17 – Werner Dürrson (born 1932), German
  • Mikhail Tanich, 84, Russian poet, kidney problems^[15]
• April 24 – Jason Shinder, 53 (born 1955), American poet, editor, anthologist and teacher who founded the Y.M.C.A. National Writer’s Voice program, one of the country’s largest networks of literary-arts centers, at one time an assistant to Allen Ginsberg^[16]
• May 1 – Alberto Estima de Oliveira, 74, Portuguese poet [25] (Portuguese)
• May 2 – Ilyas Malayev, 72, [Uzbek poetry|Uzbek]] musician, wedding entertainer and poet. "His performances in stadiums drew tens of thousands of Uzbeks, and his appeal reached beyond his native republic", according to The New York Times.^[17]
• May 19 – Rimma Kazakova, 76, Russian poet.^[18]
• May 25:
  • George Garrett, 78, American novelist and poet, cancer [26]
  • Alejandro Romualdo, 82, Peruvian^[19]
• May 29 – Paula Gunn Allen, 68, Native American poet, novelist, and activist, lung cancer^[20]
• June 5:
  • Angus Calder (born 1942) Scottish academic, writer, historian, poet and literary editor
  • Eugenio Montejo, 70, Venezuelan poet, essayist and ambassador, of stomach cancer^[21]
• June 8 – Peter Rühmkorf (born 1929), German writer and poet^[22]
• June 11 – James Reaney (born 1926) Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic
• June 29 – William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir, also known as "William Tweedsmuir" (born 1916), an English peer and author of novels, short stories, memoirs and verse^[23]
• July 4 – Thomas M. Disch, 68, American poet and novelist; suicide^[24]
• July 19 – Samudra Gupta, 62, Bangladeshi poet, gallbladder cancer [27]
• July 9 – Kilin (poet), pen name of Mikiel Spiteri, 90, Maltese poet and novelist; fluent in six languages and published in English, Spanish and other languages^[25]
• July 24 – Alain Suied, 51 (born 1951), French poet, from cancer^[26]
• August 9 – Mahmoud Darwish, 67, Palestinian poet; complications following heart surgery.^[27]
• August 24 – Wei Wei, 88, Chinese poet and writer, liver cancer ^[28]
• August 25 – Ahmed Faraz, pseudonym of Syed Ahmad Shah, 77 (born 1931), Pakistani Urdu-language poet and son of Agha Syed Muhammad Shah Bark Kohati, a leading traditional poet, from kidney failure^[29]
• August 28 – İlhan Berk, 89, Turkish^[30]
• September 10 – Reginald Shepherd, 44, American poet, complications from colon cancer^{[31] [32]}
• September 15 – John Matshikiza, 53, South African actor, writer and poet; heart attack^[33]
• September 20 – Duncan Glen, 75, British poet, critic and literary historian^[34]
• September 28 – Konstantin Pavlov, 75 (born 1933), Bulgarian poet and screenwriter who was defiant against his country's communist regime; When censors prevented his works from being published officially in the country from 1966 to 1976, his popularity didn't wane, as Bulgarians clandestinely copied and read his poems.^[35]
• September 29 – Hayden Carruth, 87, American poet and literary critic^[36]
• September 30 – Christa Reinig (born 1926), German
• October 6 – Paavo Haavikko, 77, Finnish poet and playwright, after long illness ^[37]
• October 15 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, 94, Turkish poet; chronic renal failure ^[38]
• October 25 – Tahereh Saffarzadeh, 72, Iranian poet and academic, cancer ^[39]
• November 10 – Fries de Vries (1931-2008) Dutch
• November 15, – Donald Finkel, 79 (born 1929), American poet, husband of poet and novelist Constance Urdang, complications from Alzheimer’s disease^[40]
• November 16 – Tibor Gyurkovics, 77, Hungarian poet, writer and publicist^[41]
• November 20 – Gyula Takáts, 97, Hungarian poet, writer and translator ^[42]
• December 1 – Peter Maiwald (born 1946) German
• December 5 – Altaf Nia, 44, Kashmiri poet and academic ^[43]
• December 10 – Dorothy Porter, 54, Australian^[44]
• December 14 – Tajal Bewas, pen name of Taj Mohammed Samoo, 70 (born 1938), bucolic Sufi poet, novelist, short-story writer, teacher and Pakistani government official^[45]
• December 15 – Jwalamukhi (pen name of Akaram Veeravelli Raghavacharya), 71 (born 1938), Indian poet and president of the India-China Friendship Association^[46]
• December 20 – Adrian Mitchell, 74, (born 1934), English poet, playwright, children's author, journalist and political activist, of heart failure^[47]
• December 24 – Harold Pinter, 78 (born 1930), English playwright, poet, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, human rights activist, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature
• Date not known:
  • Richard Exner (born 1929) German

[edit] Notes