W. S. Di Piero, Professor Emeritus in English, Awarded the 2012 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
Presented annually to a living U.S. poet whose lifetime accomplishments warrant extraordinary recognition, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is one of the most prestigious awards given to American poets. It is also one of the nation’s largest literary prizes. Established in 1986, the prize is sponsored and administered by the Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine.
“R.P. Blackmur once said that great poetry ‘adds to the stock of available reality,’ and that’s certainly true of W.S. Di Piero’s work. He wakes up the language, and in doing so wakes up his readers, whose lives are suddenly sharper and larger than they were before. He’s a great poet whose work is just beginning to get the wide audience it deserves.”