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Wednesday, April 7, 2004 |
I just learned from the New Poetry list that the American Academy of Arts and Letters (no website) has announced its 2004 literature awards, and 4 poets whose work I've cited here — Marilyn Hacker, Greg Williamson, R. S. Gwynn, and Rosanna Warren — are among the recipients. Gwynn and Williamson, in particular, are among my favorite writers. Hearty congratulations to all!
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS
HONORS 19 WRITERS WITH AWARDS
New York, April 6, 2004 — The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced today the names of 19 writers who will receive its 2004 awards in literature. The awards will be presented in New York on May 19th at the Academy's annual Ceremonial. The literature prizes, totaling nearly $180,000 this year, honor both established and emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The Academy's 250 members nominate candidates, and a rotating committee of writers selects winners. The members of the 2004 committee were Anthony Hecht, John Hollander, Romulus Linney, Reynolds Price, Jane Smiley, and Edmund White.
Academy Awards in Literature
Eight awards of $7,500 each honor writers of exceptional accomplishment in any genre.
HENRI COLE
MARILYN HACKER
SAMUEL HYNES
ARNOST LUSTIG
JOE ASHBY PORTER
LOUIS D. RUBIN
PAULA VOGEL
GREG WILLIAMSON
Michael Braude Award for Light Verse
A biennial award of $5,000, given for light verse in the English language regardless of the country of origin of the writer.
R.S. GWYNN
Benjamin H. Danks Award
$20,000 given to encourage a young writer of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.
DOUG WRIGHT
E.M. Forster Award
$15,000 to a young writer from England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales for a stay in the United States. Award jury: Robert Creeley, Donald Hall, Alison Lurie.
ROBIN ROBERTSON
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
$2,500 for the best work of first fiction (novel or short stories) published in 2003.
NELL FREUDENBERGER, Lucky Girls
Award of Merit for Poetry
A medal and $10,000 given once every six years, to an outstanding poet.
ROSANNA WARREN
Katherine Anne Porter Award
A biennial award of $20,000, given to a writer of prose.
NICHOLSON BAKER
Rome Fellowships in Literature
One-year residency (2004-2005) at the American Academy in Rome.
ANTHONY DOERR, writer
LISA WILLIAMS, poet
Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award
$5,000 for fiction of considerable literary accomplishment published in the preceding year.
OLYMPIA VERNON, Eden
Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award
$10,000 for writing that merits recognition for the quality of its prose style.
JUDITH THURMAN
Morton Dawen Zabel Award
$10,000 to a progressive, original, and experimental writer.
LEONARD BARKAN
9:03:00 PM 
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The adaptations from Cavafy I posted last night just happened to be the first poems in the Collected and are not typical. His two major themes were the Alexandria of late antiquity and the demimonde of early 20th century Alexandria, particularly the passions of young men for each other. Here is one of the latter, again my adaptation of a Keeley and Sherrard translation, following the brief formal notes from Savidis: "Each line really consists of two lines of either six or seven syllables, loosely rhymed. In the Greek text of this poem, the effect, according to Seferis, is that of a popular tango."
In Despair
He's really gone, he's lost,
and now he searches for
those lips in other lips,
in each new lover's mouth,
and he's almost convinced
that this is that young man,
he wants to be convinced
he gives himself to him.
He's really gone, he's lost,
it's like he never was.
His lover said he wanted --
he had to save himself
from their tainted kind of sex,
from their unhealthy pleasure,
from their tainted sex,
their shameful kind of pleasure.
There was still time, he said,
for him to save himself.
He's really gone, he's lost,
it's like he never was.
It's like a fevered dream,
like a wild delirium,
the way he searches for
those lips in other lips,
the way he longs to feel
his kind of love once more.
8:30:57 PM
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
2006 Michael Snider.
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