James Richardson Wins 2011 Jackson Poetry Prize

Posted on April 9, 2011

Poets & Writers has announced that James Richardson won the $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize. The annual prize is given to honor an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition. The poetry prize was established in 2006 with a gift from the Liana Foundation and is named for the John and Susan Jackson family.

Here is what the judges had to say about James Richardson:

Distinct, lively, and apparently effortless, James Richardson's voice has evolved, over the course of seven books, into a remarkable presence in contemporary poetry. Richardson is a moral philosopher and a student of science; his formal and intellectual rigor is matched by the compassion with which he examines our complex negotiation with love and time, illuminating our sense of ourselves. A master of concision, he has breathed new life into the art of the aphorism—becoming, in these masterful, tiny poems, a 21st century American Heraclitus.

James Richardson's bio can be found here on the Poetry @ Princeton website.