Pittsburgh, PA – The University of Pittsburgh Press is thrilled to announce that Terrance Hayes, winner of the National Book Award and one of the leading voices in American poetry, will serve as judge of the 2026 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. Submissions are now open for the first full-length book prize, with the winner receiving publication in the Pitt Poetry Series and a cash award of $5,000. Hayes, who has served as co-editor of the Pitt Poetry Series with Nancy Krygowski and Jeffrey McDaniel for four years, has also decided that the time is right to step back from…

Pitt Poetry Series author Michael Wurster will receive a City Paper Person of the Year Award in Literature on January 9th, from 6-9 p.m., at the Greer Cabaret Theater, People of the Year Speakeasy 2024. Congratulations to Michael on this special recognition for his lifelong achievements in promoting poetry and literature in Pittsburgh. For Tickets visit People of the Year Speakeasy 2024: https://us.commitchange.com/pa/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-city-paper/events/people-of-the-year-speakeasy-2024

Pittsburgh, PA — Bobby Elliott of Portland, Oregon, is the winner of the 2025 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for his collection, The Same Man, selected by poet Nate Marshall. The University of Pittsburgh Press will publish The Same Man as part of the acclaimed Pitt Poetry Series on September 9, 2025. “Bobby Elliott’s The Same Man confronts the subject of fatherhood with an honesty and tenderness rarely accorded to the typical secondary parent. In these poems, we see a pair of imperfect men reach toward each other and, indeed, toward the work of both fathering and being fathered,” states…

The Selected Shepherd has been selected as one of “The Best Poetry Books of 2024” by The New York Times. “Edited by Jericho Brown, this is a rich introduction to Shepherd’s work, which is elegant, erudite and wry, every poem an argument for language as a way of life.” Read the full New York Times article here.              

Pittsburgh, PA – The Pitt Poetry Series at the University of Pittsburgh Press is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2025 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, selected by Nate Marshall: Asa Drake, Maybe the Body Bobby Elliott, The Same Man Luke Patterson, Medic Alafia Sessions, Nine Drops of Turpentine Rob Shapiro, Human Nature The winner will be announced on December 11, 2024. Established in 1981, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize is administered by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Named in honor of Agnes Lynch Starrett, the Press’s first director, the prize is awarded for a first full-length book…