Danez Smith. Star Tribune file photo
“Summer, somewhere,” a sequence of poems by Minneapolis poet Danez Smith, has won the inaugural Four Quartets Prize from the Poetry Society of America and the T.S. Eliot Foundation. The award comes with a $20,000 prize. It is given annually for award is given annually for a unified and complete sequence of poems. This year's judges were Linda Gregerson, Ishion Hutchinson, and Jana Prikryl.
The "summer, somewhere" sequence is from Smith’s collection, “Don’t Call Us Dead,” published last fall by Minneapolis’ Graywolf Press. The book was a finalist for a National Book Award.
Smith, 28, was born in St. Paul and now lives in Minneapolis. They started out as a spoken-word performance artist and have performed all over the world. Smith has also won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and the McKnight Foundation.
Laurie Hertzel is senior editor for books at the Star Tribune, where she has worked since 1996. She is the author of "News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist," winner of a Minnesota Book Award.
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More from Star Tribune
More From On Books
Books
What are your predictions for the Man Booker long list?
The list will be revealed Tuesday. The Times of London has, as usual, named the books it expects to see, and the books it hopes to see.
Books
Dessa, Steve Almond and others to appear at Twin Cities Book Festival
This year's free, day-long book event will be Oct. 13 at the State Fairgrounds.
Books
Minnesotan wins $100K literature prize for military writing
Dennis Showalter, who grew up here and graduated from the U of M, wins the Pritzker Literature Award.
Books
Celebrating Woody Guthrie
A book talk and a concert will mark the 75th anniversary of Woody Guthrie's memoir, "Bound for Glory."
Books
Minnesota novelist Marlon James offers peek at new series he calls 'African Game of Thrones'
"Black Leopard, Red Wolf," the first in the Dark Star series, will be published in February.
StarTribune.com welcomes and encourages readers to comment and engage in substantive, mutually respectful exchanges over news topics. Commenters must follow our Terms of Use.
Comments will be reviewed before being published.