Miami poetry legend Campbell McGrath is finalist for 2017 poetry Pulitzer Prize
Miami poetry legend Campbell McGrath’s new book was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer prize in poetry.
The Miami Beach-based poet and MacArthur Foundation genius grant winner teaches creative writing and English at Florida International University. He’s the author of more than a dozen works of poetry, including “Seven Notebooks”, “In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys”, “Florida Poems” and “Shannon: A Poem of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.”
His latest work, “XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century,” examined the 20th century and included a poem for each year.
READ MORE: Campbell McGrath takes on a century of history in poetry
"People always ask me, ‘What would you be if you weren't a poet — would you be a novelist?’ No, I'd be a historian,” he told the Miami Herald last year. “It's just another kind of storytelling. I prefer that to what a novelist does.”
The prolific poet has previous been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, the Academy of American Poets Prize, the Cohen Award from “Ploughshares” literary journal and a Pushcart Prize.
In 2014, he was one of three jurors selected to judge the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
This story was originally published April 10, 2017 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Miami poetry legend Campbell McGrath is finalist for 2017 poetry Pulitzer Prize."