Award-winning poet and University
of Houston creative writing professor Tony Hoagland
has another award to add to his collection of
honors. Hoagland was named the second annual
recipient of the Jackson Poetry Prize.
Presented by Poets
& Writers Inc., the nations
largest nonprofit literary organization serving
creative writers, the honor is awarded to an
American poet of exceptional talent who has
published at least one book of recognized literary
merit but has not yet received major national
acclaim. The Jackson Poetry Prize carries a
purse $50,000.
Its great
that the Jackson Prize supports the making of
American poetry, and I'm honored to be recognized
by it, Hoagland said. When American
poets do their job, they deliver something that
is distinct from dumbed-down political messages,
anesthetizing consumerism, reality television
shows, pious self-righteous finger-pointing
Puritanism, vapid cell phone conversations and
the general culture of consensual amnesia. Good
poems are vivid, ambiguous, complex, forceful
and radically engaged with the world and the
humane heart.
Hoagland is the author
of 2003s What Narcissism Means to
Me, 1998s Donkey Gospel,
which was selected as the 1997 James Laughlin
Award of The Academy of American Poets, and
Sweet Ruin, which received the Brittingham
Prize in Poetry.
Among the authors
other honors is the 2005 O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry
Prize, which honors literary professionals for
both teaching abilities and writing talents.
Like his fellow
faculty members in the Creative
Writing Program,
Tony is that rare combination of good writer,
good teacher and good citizen, said J.
Kastely, director of the UH Creative Writing
Program. He and his fellow creative writing
faculty members make our program into a community
of writers. That community becomes a strong
reason for writers and graduate students to
come to Houston.
Poets were nominated
for the Jackson Poetry Prize by a panel of their
peers, who will remain anonymous. The award
was made possible by a significant donation
from the Liana Foundation and named for the
John and Susan Jackson family.
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