The Barnard Women Poets Prize is a major American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 literary award

Literary award

A literary award is an award presented to an author who has written a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poetry to novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing . There are also awards...

 for a book of poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 in the English language.

From 1986-1999 the prize was called the Barnard New Women Poets Prize. It debuted sixteen debut collections, supported by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the generous alumnae of Barnard College

Barnard College

Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...

, and published by Beacon Press

Beacon Press

Beacon Press is an American non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association.Beacon Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses....

.

In the new century, Women Poets at Barnard, in collaboration with W.W. Norton, inaugurated a new book prize for the best second book by an American woman poet.

Year	Winner	Book	Judge
2009	Sandra Beasley Sandra Beasley Sandra Beasley is an American poet and non-fiction writer.-Background:Beasley graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, earned a B.A. in English magna cum laude from the University of Virginia, and later received an MFA degree from American University...	I Was the Jukebox	Joy Harjo Joy Harjo Joy Harjo is a Native American poet, musician, and author of ancestry. Known primarily as a poet, Harjo has also taught at the college level, played alto saxophone with a band called Poetic Justice, edited literary journals, and written screenplays. She is a member of the Muscogee Nation and...
2007	Lisa Williams Lisa Williams (poet) -Life:She is from Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Belmont University, from the University of Virginia, with an M.F.A. and from the University of Cincinnati, with an M.A.She is an associate professor of English at Centre College....	Woman Reading to the Sea	Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
2006	Cathy Park Hong Cathy Park Hong Cathy Park Hong is an American writer born in Los Angeles, California, USA. Much of her work includes mixed language and serialized narrative.-Life:She is a graduate of Oberlin College and has an MFA from Iowa Writers Workshop...	Dance Dance Revolution	Adrienne Rich Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich is an American poet, essayist and feminist. She has been called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century."-Early life:...
2005	Julie Sheehan Julie Sheehan -Life:She graduated from Yale University, and Columbia University.She lives on Long Island, New York, with her son, and is currently an assistant professor at Stony Brook Southampton....	Orient Point	Billy Collins Billy Collins Billy Collins is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York and is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida...
2004	Tessa Rumsey Tessa Rumsey -Life:She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and of the Visual Criticism department at California College of the Arts.Her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Fence, The New Republic...	The Return Message
2003	Rebecca Wolff Rebecca Wolff Rebecca Wolff is a poet, fiction writer, and the editor and creator of both Fence Magazine and Fence Books.-Life:Wolff received her MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop, where she was an assistant editor of the Iowa Review....	Figment
2000	Sharan Strange Sharan Strange -Life:She grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She graduated from Harvard College, and from Sarah Lawrence College with an MFA.She is a contributing and advisory editor of Callaloo and cofounder of the Dark Room Collective....	Ash	Sonia Sanchez Sonia Sanchez Sonia Sanchez is an African American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books...
1999	Christine Hume Christine Hume -Life:Hume received her BA, MFA, and PhD from Penn State University, Columbia University, and University of Denver, respectively. She has taught at Illinois Wesleyan University and is currently an Associate Professor of English at Eastern Michigan University, where she also hosts an internet radio...	Musica Domestica
1998	Jenna Osman	The Character	Lyn Hejinian Lyn Hejinian Lyn Hejinian is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is well known for her landmark work My Life , as well as her book of essays, The Language of Inquiry .-Life:Hejinian was born in the San...
1997	Larissa Szporluk Larissa Szporluk Larissa Szporluk is an American poet and professor. Her most recent book is Embryos & Idiots . Her poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including Daedalus, Faultline, Meridian, American Poetry Review, and Black Warrior Review...	Dark Sky Question	Brenda Hillman Brenda Hillman Brenda Hillman , is an American poet. She was educated at Pomona College, and received her M.F.A. at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is the Olivia Filippi Professor of Poetry at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California...
1995	Reetika Vazirani Reetika Vazirani Reetika Vazirani was an American poet and educator. On July 16, 2003, Vazirani was housesitting in the Chevy Chase, Maryland home of novelist Howard Norman and his wife, the poet, Jane Shore. There, Vazirani took the life of her two-year-old son, Jehan, and then her own.-Life:She was born in...	White Elephants	Marilyn Hacker Marilyn Hacker Marilyn Hacker is an American poet, translator and critic. She is Professor of English at the City College of New York....
1994	Joyce Sutphen Joyce Sutphen Joyce Sutphen is an American poet, currently serving as Minnesota's Poet Laureate. She is the state's second laureate, appointed by Governor Mark Dayton in August, 2011. Sutphen also serves as a professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.-Life:Sutphen was raised in...	Straight Out of View
1993	Donna Masini Donna Masini Donna Masini is a poet and novelist who was born in Brooklyn and lives in New York City.-Life:She graduated from Hunter College and New York University. Her work frequently deals with urban life and the working-class. Her first book of poems, That Kind of Danger, received the Barnard Women Poet’s...	That Kind of Danger	Mona Van Duyn
1992	Ruth Foreman Ruth Foreman Ruth Forman is an American poet. Her content focuses on spirituality, love, challenge, and grace. She currently travels around the United States performing readings from her recent publication; Prayers Like Shoes, and her children's book; Young Cornrows Calling Out the Moon.-Life:She graduated from...	We Are the Young Magicians	Cherrie Maraga
1991	Frances McCue Frances McCue -Life:She got her Bachelor of Arts at the University of New Hampshire. She graduated from Columbia University PhD, where she was a Klingenstein Fellow, and the University of Washington with an MFA. She is an adjunct professor of Education at Seattle University and the University of Washington.She...	The Stenographer's Breakfast	Colleen J. McElroy Colleen J. McElroy Colleen J. McElroy is an American poet, short story writer, editor, memoirist.-Life:She graduated from Kansas State University and from the University of Washington with a Ph.D...
1990	Dorothy Barresi Dorothy Barresi -Life:She was raised in Akron, Ohio. She teaches in the English Department at California State University at Northridge, where she is Chair of the Creative Writing Program....	All of the Above	Olga Broumas Olga Broumas Olga Broumas , is a Greek poet, resident in the United States.-Biography:Born and raised in Greece, Broumas secured a fellowship through the Fulbright program to study in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania; she earned her Bachelor's degree in architecture...
1989	Barbara Jordan Barbara Jordan (poet) -Life:She is a professor of English at University of Rochester, and Plutzik Memorial Series director.Her work has appeared in Paris Review, Sulfur, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harvard Review.-Reviews:...	Channel	Molly Peacock Molly Peacock Molly Peacock is an American-Canadian poet, essayist and creative nonfiction writer. She is an alumna of Binghamton University.-Career:...
1988	Mary B. Campbell Mary Baine Campbell Mary Baine Campbell is an American poet, scholar, and professor. She teaches medieval and Renaissance literature, as well as creative writing, at Brandeis University.-Awards:...	The World, The Flesh, and angels	Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché is an American poet, editor, translator, and human rights advocate.-Life:Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 28, 1950, to Michael Joseph and Louise Nada Blackford Sidlosky. Forché earned a B.A...
1987	Elizabeth Socolow Elizabeth Socolow -Life:She is a native of New York City, has taught at Rutgers University, Vassar College, Yale University, Barnard College, Wayne State University, University of Michigan Dearborn.A member of U.S. 1 Poets’ Cooperative, She edited U.S...	Laughing at Gravity: Conversations with Isaac Newton	Marie Ponsot Marie Ponsot Marie Ponsot, née Birmingham is an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator.-Life:Ponsot was born in Brooklyn, New York, but along with her brother grew up in Jamaica, Queens. She was already writing poems as a child, some of which were published in the Brooklyn Daily...
1986	Patricia Storace Patricia Storace -Life:She was raised in Mobile, Alabama, and graduated from Barnard College, and University of Cambridge. She lives in New York.Her work has appeared in the AGNI, Harper's, New York Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and the Arvon anthology edited by Ted Hughes and...	Heredity	Louise Bernikow

External links

• Barnard Women Poets Prize Homepage
• 1986-1992 List