The PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry is given biennially to an American poet whose distinguished and growing body of work to date represents a notable and accomplished presence in American literature.[1]
The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centers around the world. The PEN America awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes.[2]
| Year | Recipient | Judges | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Jane Kenyon | ||
| 1996 | Franz Wright | ||
| 1998 | C. K. Williams | ||
| 2000 | Heather McHugh | ||
| 2002 | Frederick Seidel | ||
| 2004 | Robert Pinsky | ||
| 2006 | Linda Gregg | Michael Hofmann, Timothy Liu, and Vijay Seshadri | |
| 2008 | Kimiko Hahn | Kwame Dawes, Mark Doty, and Marie Howe | |
| 2010 | Marilyn Hacker | Christopher Ricks, Marie Ponsot, and David Ferry | |
| 2012 | Toi Derricotte | Dan Chiasson, Aracelis Girmay, and A. Van Jordan | |
| 2014 | Frank Bidart | Peg Boyers, Toi Derricotte, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips | [4][5][6] |
| 2016 | Ed Roberson | Catherine Barnett, Jericho Brown, and Tina Chang | [7][8] |
| 2018 | Kamau Brathwaite | Ed Roberson, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, and Ocean Vuong | [9] |
| 2020 | Rigoberto González | Cornelius Eady, Linda Gregerson, Deborah Paredez, and Monica Youn | |
| 2021 | Victoria Chang | [10] | |
| 2022 | Diane Seuss | Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Lia Purpura, and Safiya Sinclair | [11] |
| 2023 | Robin Coste Lewis | [12] |
