By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also:
US National Book Awards 2023 Longlist: Fiction
US National Book Awards 2023 Longlist: Nonfiction
US National Book Awards 2023 Longlist: Translation
US National Book Awards 2023 Longlist: Young People’s Literature
Poetry Submissions Totaled 295
The last of the five categories in our coverage of the United States’ National Book Foundation‘s 2023 longlist is in Poetry.
Shortlists, called finalists in National Book Awards terminology, in all five categories are to be announced on October 3.
Winners are to be named at the 74th National Book Awards ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on November 15.
The 2023 Poetry Longlist
Jurors in this year’s Poetry category for the National Book Awards are Rick Barot, Heid E. Erdrich (chair), Jonathan Farmer, Raina J. León, and Solmaz Sharif.
Publishers submitted a total of 295 books for consideration in this category this year.
Of the 10 longlisted poets here, one has had National Book Awards attention in the past: Monica Youn was shortlisted for Poetry in 2010, and she was a longlisted in the category in 2016.
This year’s Poetry Longlist includes a Guggenheim fellow and three National Endowment for the Arts fellows. Taken together, these poets have been recognized by the American Book Award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, the Lannan Literary Award, the Pushcart Prizes, the William Carlos Williams Award, and more.
Three of the books come from university presses and six come from independent publishers, including one publisher appearing on the National Book Award longlists for the first time: the University of Georgia Press.
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| John Lee Clark | How To Communicate | WW Norton |
| Oliver de la Paz | The Diaspora Sonnets | WW Norton |
| Annelyse Gelman | Vexations | University of Chicago Press |
| José Olivarez | Promises of Gold | Macmillan / Henry Holt |
| Craig Santos Perez | From Unincorporated Territory [åmot] | Omnidawn |
| Paisley Rekdal | West: A Translation | Cooper Canyon Press |
| Brandon Som | Tripas | University of Georgia Press / Georgia Review Books |
| Charif Shanahan | Trace Evidence | Tin House Books |
| Evie Schockley | Suddenly We | Wesleyan University Press |
| Monica Youn | From From | Graywolf Press |
As always, the jury’s decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and board of directors and deliberations are strictly confidential.
More on the 2023 National Book Awards:
US National Book Foundation: Poet Rita Dove: 2023 Medal for Distinguished Contribution
US National Book Foundation: Bookseller Paul Yamazaki: 2023 Literarian Medal
More from Publishing Perspectives on the National Book Awards in the United States is here and more on international book awards and prizes is here. More from us on poetry is here, and more on the United States’ market is here.