Toi Derricotte Awarded Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement

The Poetry Society of America has honored Toi Derricotte with the 2020 Frost Medal for lifetime achievement in poetry. More about this honor at the PSA:

The Frost Medal citation from the Poetry Society of America's Board of Governors reads: 

"There are few poets who are as brave as Toi Derricotte; brave in her subject matter and brave in how she insists that even the deepest hurts must sing on the page. Derricotte’s New and Selected is an amazing statement of her dedication to craft, vision and invention, which she has built, book by book through her writing life. Her work dives into the interior of African American womanhood, and brings back such lyric beauty. Her poems have given vast permission to the poets who have followed her to tell the truths of their lives, and in doing that, have allowed us all a chance to re-discover the world."   

The Frost Medal reading will be held on Thursday, April 16, at 7:00pm at CUNY Graduate Center at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. The reading will be followed by an interview between Toi Derricotte and Tracy K. Smith, former Poet Laureate of the United States. 

Congratulations to Derricotte!