Twin Cities poet Danez Smith--born in St. Paul, now lives in Minneapolis--is on the National Book Awards long list for poetry. Smith's book, "Don't Call Us Dead," was published this month by Graywolf Press of Minneapolis.
Two other Graywolf titles, "Whereas," by Layli Long Soldier, and "Afterland," by Mai Der Vang, are also on the list. The National Book Award long list for children's literature was announced yesterday, and the long lists for nonfiction and fiction will be announced Thursday and Friday. The short lists will be announced Oct. 4, and the winners will be announced Nov. 15. Watch for our interview with Danez Smith this Sunday in the Star Tribune. Our review of his book will run later this fall. Here are the poetry nominees:Frank Bidart, Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers)
Chen Chen, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, Ltd.)
Leslie Harrison, The Book of Endings (University of Akron Press)
Marie Howe, Magdalene: Poems (W. W. Norton & Company)
Laura Kasischke, Where Now: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press)
Layli Long Soldier, WHEREAS (Graywolf Press)
Shane McCrae, In the Language of My Captor (Wesleyan University Press)
Sherod Santos, Square Inch Hours (W. W. Norton & Company)
Danez Smith, Don't Call Us Dead: Poems (Graywolf Press)
Mai Der Vang, Afterland (Graywolf Press)
