Brooklyn Poet Timothy Donnelly wins $100,000 Poetry Prize

I'd never even heard of Brooklyn poet Timothy Donnelly before.... That is until a couple of days ago when I read that he had been given the annual $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award from the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California for his second book of poetry, The Cloud Corporation. 

I agree with what writer David Orr wrote in his article for NPR titled, "Flush Poets Society: Donnelly's 'Cloud Corporation' Wins Six-Figure Prize", that the words "poetry" and "money" are rarely found in the same sentence. I've always assumed that poets don't earn a lot of money for their writing which is unfortunate if they are talented at their craft. Orr goes on to further write:

The Kingsley Tufts Prize is given to a poet in mid-career (Donnelly is 42), which means that it's usually going to someone with three or four books under his or her belt. But The Cloud Corporation is Donnelly's second book. His first, Twenty-Seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebenszeit, was published in 2003, after which Donnelly did something all too rare in the poetry world: He took his time.

Learn more about Timothy Donnelly by reading the following links:

Publishers Weekly Interview 
Timothy Donnelly's 6 Favorite Contemporary Poets

Poetry isn't something I read (or even write) all that often. Do you have a favorite poet? Share your favorite poet!

My favorite poet is Maya Angelou. I've seen her and her speak at the University of Iowa where she'd received an award and also at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara. Maya Angelou is an amazing and captivating speaker. She recites poetry and even sang in one of her speaking engagements. I love her writing!