Over the course of 11 books of poetry, Depew native Lucille Clifton has become one of America’s most widely read and revered poets. Her first volume of poetry, Good Times, was cited by the New York Times as one of 1969’s ten best books, and she won the National Book Award in 2000 for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 (BOA Editions, 2000). Clifton was the first author to have two books of poetry chosen as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in the same year, Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980 (BOA, 1987) and Next: New Poems (BOA, 1987).

Now she adds the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize to her distinguished list of accomplishments.

Established in 1986 and presented annually by the Poetry Foundation, the Ruth Lilly is one of the most prestigious awards given to American poets. At $100,000, it is also one of the nation’s largest literary honors.

Nora A. Jones, executive director of Clifton’s longtime publisher BOA Editions which is located in Rochester, says, “This is such fantastic news. Lucille Clifton is a wonderful choice for the Ruth Lilly Prize. I’ve enjoyed her writing for many years, and heard her read for the first time earlier this spring. Her poetry is so down to earth and her presentation is truly one-of-a-kind.”

Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine and chair of the Ruth Lilly selection committee, said, “Lucille Clifton is a powerful presence and voice in American poetry. Her poems are at once outraged and tender, small and explosive, sassy and devout. She sounds like no one else, and her achievement looks larger with each passing year.”

Widely admired since Langston Hughes championed her work in an early anthology of African-American poetry, Clifton writes with clarity and feeling about family, death, birth, civil rights and religion. Her most recent book, Mercy, was published by BOA Editions in 2004.

The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize will be presented at an evening ceremony at The Arts Club of Chicago on Wednesday, May 23.

Lucille Clifton will give a poetry reading in Rochester on Saturday, September 15. Her reading will be part of the annual Dine & Rhyme fundraising event for BOA Editions, Ltd.