Poetry: Kamau Braithwaite for "The Frost"

The Poetry Society of America is honored to announce that Kamau Brathwaite (right) is the 2015 recipient of the organization's highest award, the Frost Medal, presented annually for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry. Previous winners of this award include Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Lucille Clifton, Charles Simic, Marilyn Nelson, and Gerald Stern, the 2014 recipient.

 Brathwaite was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1930. He studied at Harrison College in Barbados, graduated with honors from Pembroke College, Cambridge, England, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Sussex. He is the author of numerous books of poetry include Elegguas (Wesleyan University Press, 2010), Born to Slow Horses (2005), Ancestors (New Directions, 2001), Words Need Love Too (2000), Black + Blues(1995), Roots 1993), and Trenchtown Rock (1993), among others. He has taught at Harvard University, and New York University, the University of the West Indies, as well as serving in Ghana's Ministry of Education.

The 2015 Annual Awards ceremony, which will honor Kamau Brathwaite and celebrate the winners of the Poetry Society of America's 10 other annual awards, will take place on Thursday, April 16th at 7:00 pm at the National Arts Club.

The Poetry Society of America, that nation's oldest poetry organization, was founded in 1910 for the purpose of creating a public forum for the advancement, enjoyment, and understanding of poetry. Through a diverse array of programs, initiatives, contests, and awards, the PSA works to build a larger audience for poetry, to encourage a deeper appreciation of the art, and to place poetry at the crossroads of American life. The PSA's signature program is Poetry in Motion, featuring poems on transit systems across the country.