Mai Der Vang named 2016 Walt Whitman Poetry Prize Winner!

We are overjoyed to announce that Mai Der Vang is the 2016 Walt Whitman Award winner from the Academy of American Poets. Her collection “Afterland” was selected from 1,000s of submissions by esteemed poet Carolyn Forche and will be published by Graywolf Press in April 2017.

This is a significant literary accomplishment and continues to establish Mai Der as a leading writer within the Hmong community, as well as an emerging voice within the literary community.

Carolyn Forche wrote about the collection:
“Here is deep attention, prismatic intelligence, and fearless truth.”

Bravo Mai Der. Bravo!

To read the press release from the Academy of American poets, click here.

Leave a Reply