The Board of Governors of the Poetry Society of America is proud to announce X.J. Kennedy as the recipient of the 2009 Frost Medal.

Billy Collins, Former Poet Laureate and Poetry Society of America Vice President, writes:

X.J. Kennedy occupies a distinct position in contemporary American literature not only because of the force and nimbleness of his own poems but because of his unwavering belief in the role of humor in poetry and his delightfully entertaining, childlike capacity for high silliness.

X.J. Kennedy was born in Dover, NJ on August 21, 1929. His numerous recognitions include the Lamont Award from the Academy of American Poets (for his first book, Nude Descending a Staircase, in 1961), the Los Angeles Book Award for poetry (for Cross Ties: Selected Poems, 1985), Guggenheim and National Arts Council fellowships, the first Michael Braude Award for light verse (given by the American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters to a poet of any nation), the National Council of Teachers of English Year 2000 Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry, and in 2004, the Poets' Prize (for The Lords of Misrule: Poems 1992-2002).

The Frost Medal is awarded annually at the discretion of the PSA's Board of Governors for distinguished lifetime achievement in American poetry. Since 1995, the recipient of the Frost Medal has delivered the Frost Medal Lecture, a retrospective reading, and a talk that is the highlight of the Annual Awards Ceremony.

The Frost Medal has been awarded to Gwendolyn Brooks, Denise Levertov, James Laughlin, Donald Hall, Adrienne Rich, William Stafford, A.R. Ammons, John Ashbery, Richard Wilbur, Josephine Jacobsen, Stanley Kunitz, Barbara Guest, Anthony Hecht, Sonia Sanchez, and Galway Kinnell.

Visit the Frost Medal Archive

The Shelley Memorial Award of more than $3,500, established by the will of the late Mary P. Sears, is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need.

Ron Padgett and Gary Young have been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Shelley Memorial Award. Recent recipients of this prestigious award include Ed Roberson, Kimiko Hahn, George Stanley, Lyn Hejinian, Yusef Komunyakaa, Angela Jackson, Marie Ponsot, Jean Valentine, Frank Bidart, Lucille Clifton, Alan Dugan, Etheridge Knight, Kenneth Koch, Robert Pinsky, Cathy Song, and Anne Waldman.

Visit the Shelley Memorial Award Archive