THE POETRY SOCIETY of America has awarded Barbadian literary powerhouse Edward Kamau Brathwaite the organisation’s highest award, the 2015 Frost Medal, presented annually for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry.
Previous winners of this award included Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Lucille Clifton, Charles Simic, Marilyn Nelson, and Gerald Stern.
Brathwaite, who was born in in 1930, studied at Harrison College, graduated with honors from Pembroke College, Cambridge, England, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Sussex. He is the author of numerous books of poetry including Elegguas, Born to Slow Horses, Ancestors, Words Need Love Too, Black + Blues, Roots, and Trenchtown Rock, among others. He has taught at Harvard University, and New York University, the University of the West Indies, as well as serving in Ghana’s Ministry of Education.
The 2015 Annual Awards ceremony honouring Brathwaite will take place on April 16th at the National Arts Club.
The Poetry Society of America (PSA), that nation’s oldest poetry organisation, was founded in 1910 for the purpose of creating a public forum for the advancement, enjoyment, and understanding of poetry. Through a diverse array of programmes, initiatives, contests, and awards, the PSA works to build a larger audience for poetry, to encourage a deeper appreciation of the art, and to place poetry at the crossroads of American life. The PSA’s signature programme is Poetry in Motion, featuring poems on transit systems across the country. (PR/GE)
