The APR/Honickman First Book Prize (also known as the American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize) is an annual award for a debut book-length collection of poetry. Established in 1998, the prize is a partnership between The American Poetry Review (APR) and the Honickman Foundation, a Philadelphia-based philanthropic organization. The winning poet receives a $3,000 cash award, publication by the American Poetry Review, and distribution of the winning book by Copper Canyon Press through Consortium. A different distinguished poet serves as judge each year and writes an introduction to the winning book.
The prize is among the most prominent first-book awards in American poetry. Among its past winners, Gregory Pardlo won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his second collection, Digest.
History
The American Poetry Review is widely regarded as one of the most influential poetry journals in the United States. The prize was founded in 1998 through a partnership between APR and the Honickman Foundation. Joshua Beckman's manuscript for his debut collection, Things Are Happening, won the prize in its inaugural year, selected by Gerald Stern. The Foundation's involvement was rooted in a recognition that poetry is a powerful but under-served art form and that debut books of poetry face particular difficulty finding publishers.
Early judges included Louise Glück, who selected Dana Levin's In the Surgical Theatre in 1999. The 2008 winner, Matthew Dickman's All-American Poem, selected by Tony Hoagland, led to Dickman receiving the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the 2009 Oregon Book Award in Poetry.
Eligibility
The prize is open to poets who have not previously published a book-length collection of poems with a registered ISBN. Manuscripts must be at least 48 pages and the work of a sole author.
The editors of the American Poetry Review screen manuscripts before passing them to the judge, who reviews submissions in an anonymous process and will not award the prize to any writer with whom they have a personal conflict of interest.
Winners
The year listed is the year in which the prize was awarded. Books are typically published in September of the same year.
Year Poet Title Judge 1998 Joshua Beckman Things Are Happening Gerald Stern 1999 Dana Levin In the Surgical Theatre Louise Glück 2000 Anne Marie Macari Ivory Cradle Robert Creely 2001 Ed Pavlić Paraph of Bone & Other Kinds of Blue Adrienne Rich 2002 Kathleen Ossip The Search Engine Derek Walcott 2003 James McCorkle Evidences Jorie Graham 2004 Kevin Ducey Rhinoceros Yusef Komunyakaa 2005 Geoff Bouvier Living Room Heather McHugh 2006 David Roderick Blue Colonial Robert Pinsky 2007 Gregory Pardlo Totem Brenda Hillman 2008 Matthew Dickman All-American Poem Tony Hoagland 2009 Laura McKee Uttermost Paradise Place Claudia Keelan 2010 Melissa Stein Rough Honey Mark Doty 2011 Nathaniel Perry Nine Acres Marie Howe 2012 Tomás Q. Morín A Larger Country Tom Sleigh 2013 Maria Hummel House and Fire Fanny Howe 2014 Katherine Bode-Lang The Reformation Stephen Dunn 2015 Alicia Jo Rabins Divinity School Carolyn D. Wright 2017 Tyree Daye River Hymns Gabrielle Calvocoressi 2019 Taneum Bambrick Vantage Sharon Olds 2020 Chessy Normile Great Exodus, Great Wall, Great Party Li-Young Lee 2021 Natasha Rao Latitude Ada Limón 2022 Chelsea Harlan Bright Shade Jericho Brown 2023 Jane Huffman Public Abstract Dana Levin 2024 Jacob Eigen The Twenty-First Century Roger Reeves 2025 Itiola Jones Bloodmercy Nicole Sealey 2026 Ellie Black Revelator Dorothea Lasky
See also American Poetry Review List of poetry awards Phoenix Poets series Yale Series of Younger Poets
References
External links APR/Honickman First Book Prize at the American Poetry Review The Honickman Foundation