For the past two decades Poets & Writers Magazine has celebrated noteworthy and spectacular emerging poets in an annual feature. This special coverage, which first appeared in our November/December 2005 issue, originated from the understanding that first poetry collections are as worthy of acknowledgement and praise as debut novels, and other such works of prose, that tend to make bigger splashes in the literary community due to greater media attention and heightened fanfare. The following retrospective serves as a cumulative list of the 222 poets and their debut collections that have graced our pages from 2005 to present, offering a profound and unique view of the contemporary American poetry landscape over the last twenty years. These are some of the many poets out there who have made their literary mark. 

Kweku Abimbola [3], Saltwater Demands a Psalm (Graywolf Press, 2023), winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award [4]

Zubair Ahmed, City of Rivers (McSweeney’s Books, 2012)

Kaveh Akbar [5], Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books, 2017)

Dan Albergotti, The Boatloads (BOA Editions, 2008), winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize [6]

Sarah Ghazal Ali [7], Theophanies (Alice James Books, 2024), winner of the Alice James Award Editor’s Choice [8]

Kenzie Allen [7], Cloud Missives (Tin House, 2024)

Threa Almontaser [9], The Wild Fox of Yemen (Graywolf Press, 2021), winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award [4]

William Archila, The Art of Exile (Bilingual Press, 2009)

Fatimah Asghar [10], If They Come for Us (One World, 2018)

Darius Atefat-Peckham [7], Book of Kin (Autumn House Press, 2024), winner of the Autumn House Poetry Prize [11]

Tacey M. Atsitty [10], Rain Scald (University of New Mexico Press, 2018)

Diego Báez [7], Yaguareté White (University of Arizona Press, 2024)

Desiree C. Bailey [9], What Noise Against the Cane (Yale University Press, 2021), winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize [12]

Andrea Baker [13], Like Wind Loves a Window (Slope Editions, 2005)

Ari Banias [14], Anybody (Norton, 2016)

Christian Barter [13], The Singers I Prefer (CavanKerry Press, 2005)

John Beer, The Waste Land and Other Poems (Canarium Books, 2010)

John Belk [15], The Gardens of Our Childhoods (Autumn House Press, 2022), winner of the Rising Writer Prize [16]

Nathaniel Bellows [17], Why Speak? (Norton, 2007)

Chad Bennett [18], Your New Feeling Is the Artifact of a Bygone Era (Sarabande Books, 2020), winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry [19]

Lauren Berry, The Lifting Dress (Penguin Books, 2011), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, But a Storm Is Blowing From Paradise (Red Hen Press, 2012)

Reginald Dwayne Betts, Shahid Reads His Own Palm (Alice James Books, 2010), winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award [8]

Destiny O. Birdsong [18], Negotiations (Tin House, 2020)

Tommye Blount [18], Fantasia for the Man in Blue (Four Way Books, 2020)

Justin Boening [14], Not on the Last Day, but on the Very Last (Milkweed Editions, 2016), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Roger Bonair-Agard [17], Tarnish and Masquerade (Cypher Books, 2007)

Sara Borjas [21], Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff (Noemi Press, 2019)

Todd Boss, Yellowrocket (Norton, 2008)

Charlotte Boulay [22], Foxes on the Trampoline (Ecco, 2014)

Geoff Bouvier [13], Living Room (American Poetry Review, 2005), winner of the Honickman First Book Prize [23]

Daniel Brenner, The Stupefying Flashbulbs (Fence Books, 2006), winner of the Fence Modern Poets Series

William Brewer [5], I Know Your Kind (Milkweed Editions, 2017), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Deborah Brown, Walking the Dog’s Shadow (BOA Editions, 2011), winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize [6]

F. Douglas Brown [22], Zero to Three (University of Georgia Press, 2014), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

Jericho Brown, Please (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2008)

Leslie Bumstead [13], Cipher/Civilian (Edge Books, 2005)

Joshua Burton [3], Grace Engine (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023)

Xochiquetzal Candelaria, Empire (University of Arizona Press, 2011)

Ina Cariño [3], Feast (Alice James Books, 2023), winner of the Alice James Award [8]

Eleanor Chai [14], Standing Water (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016)

Chia-Lun Chang [15], Prescribee (Nightboat Books, 2022), winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize [24]

Leslie C. Chang, Things That No Longer Delight Me (Fordham University Press, 2010)

Victoria Chang [13], Circle (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition Award

Mario Chard [10], Land of Fire (Tupelo Press, 2018), winner of the Dorset Prize [25]

Leila Chatti [18], Deluge (Copper Canyon Press, 2020)

John Chávez, City of Slow Dissolve (University of New Mexico Press, 2012)

Dan Chelotti, x (McSweeney’s Books, 2013)

Chen Chen [5], When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize [6]

Feng Sun Chen, Butcher’s Tree (Black Ocean, 2012)

Stephanie Choi [7], The Lengest Neoi (University of Iowa Press, 2024), winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize [26]

Michael Cirelli, Lobster With Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Hanging Loose Press, 2008)

Tiana Clark [10], I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018), winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize [27]

Anthony Cody [18], Borderland Apocrypha (Omnidawn Publishing, 2020), winner of the Omnidawn Open Poetry Book Contest [28]

Christian J. Collier [7], Greater Ghost (Four Way Books, 2024)  

Corina Copp [29], The Green Ray (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2015)

Patty Crane [21], Bell I Wake To (Zone 3 Press, 2019), winner of the First Book Award for Poetry

Laura Cronk, Having Been an Accomplice (Persea Books, 2012), winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize [30]

Brian Culhane, The King’s Question (Graywolf Press, 2008), winner of the Emily Dickinson First Book Award

Christina Davis, Forth a Raven (Alice James Books, 2006)

Nick Demske, Nick Demske (Fence Books, 2010), winner of the Fence Modern Poets Series

Shira Dentz, Black Seeds on a White Dish (Shearsman Books, 2010)

Jay Deshpande [29], Love the Stranger (YesYes Books, 2015)

Albert Flynn DeSilver [17], Letters to Early Street (La Alameda Press, 2007)

Natalie Diaz, When My Brother Was an Aztec (Copper Canyon Press, 2012)

Geri Doran [13], Resin (Louisiana State University, 2005), winner of the Walt Whitman Award [4]

K. E. Duffin [13], King Vulture (University of Arkansas Press, 2005)

Kate Durbin, The Ravenous Audience (Black Goat, 2009)

Carolina Ebeid [14], You Ask Me to Talk About the Interior (Noemi Press, 2016)

Robin Ekiss, The Mansion of Happiness (University of Georgia Press, 2009)

Thomas Sayers Ellis [13], The Maverick Room (Graywolf Press, 2005)

Landis Everson, Everything Preserved (Graywolf Press, 2006), winner of the Emily Dickinson First Book Award

Eve L. Ewing [5], Electric Arches (Haymarket Books, 2017)

Tarfia Faizullah [22], Seam (Southern Illinois University Press, 2014), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award

Shangyang Fang [9], Burying the Mountain (Copper Canyon Press, 2021)

Lucas Farrell, The Many Woods of Grief (University of Massachusetts Press, 2011), winner of the Juniper Prize [31]

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Death of a Ventriloquist (University of North Texas Press, 2012), winner of the Vassar Miller Prize [32]

Camonghne Felix [21], Build Yourself a Boat (Haymarket Books, 2019)

Robert Fernandez, We Are Pharaoh (Canarium Books, 2011)

Jonathan Fink [29], The Crossing (Dzanc Books, 2015)

Brett Foster, The Garbage Eater (TriQuarterly Books, 2011)

Carrie Fountain, Burn Lake (Penguin Books, 2010), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Vievee Francis, Blue-Tail Fly (Wayne State University Press, 2006)

Santee Frazier, Dark Thirty (University of Arizona Press, 2009)

Emily Kendal Frey, The Grief Performance (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2011), winner of the CSUPC First Book Prize

Matthew Gellman [7], Beforelight (BOA Editions, 2024), winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize [6]

Jenny George [10], The Dream of Reason (Copper Canyon Press, 2018)

Frank Giampietro, Begin Anywhere (Alice James Books, 2008)

Alan Gilbert, Late in the Antenna Fields (Futurepoem Books, 2011)

Aracelis Girmay [17], Teeth (Curbstone Press, 2007)

Elisa Gonzalez [3], Grand Tour (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023)

Nicholas Goodly [15], Black Swim (Copper Canyon Press, 2022)

Dana Goodyear [13], Honey and Junk (Norton, 2005)

torrin a. greathouse [18], Wound From the Mouth of a Wound (Milkweed Editions, 2020), winner of the Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry [33]

Sarah Gridley [13], Weather Eye Open (University of California Press, 2005)

Laurie Ann Guerrero, A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying (University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize [34]

Amanda Gunn [3], Things I Didn’t Do With This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023)

Cindy Williams Gutiérrez [22], the small claim of bones (Bilingual Press, 2014)

Roy G. Guzmán [18], Catrachos (Graywolf Press, 2020)

Alena Hairston [17], The Logan Topographies (Persea Books, 2007), winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize [30]

Anthony Hawley, The Concerto Form (Shearsman Books, 2006)

Thomas Heise, Horror Vacui (Sarabande Books, 2006)

Marwa Helal [21], Invasive species (Nightboat Books, 2019)

W. J. Herbert [9], Dear Specimen (Beacon Press, 2021), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Matthew Hittinger, Skin Shift (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012)

Jeff Hoffman, Journal of American Foreign Policy (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2011), winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize

Richie Hofmann [29], Second Empire (Alice James Books, 2015), winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award [8]

Harmony Holiday, Negro League Baseball (Fence Books, 2011), winner of the Motherwell Prize

Carolina Hotchandani [3], The Book Eaters (Perugia Press, 2023), winner of the Perugia Press Prize [35]

Gary Jackson, Missing You, Metropolis (Graywolf Press, 2010), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

Tyehimba Jess [13], leadbelly (Verse Press, 2005), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Jenny Johnson [5], In Full Velvet (Sarabande Books, 2017)

Sara Eliza Johnson [22], Bone Map (Milkweed Editions, 2014), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Taylor Johnson [18], Inheritance (Alice James Books, 2020)

Saeed Jones [22], Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House Press, 2014)

Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan, Shadow Mountain (Four Way Books, 2008), winner of the Intro Prize in Poetry

Yalie Saweda Kamara [7], Besaydoo (Milkweed Editions, 2024), winner of the Jake Adam York Prize [36]

Arlene Kim, What have you done to our ears to make us hear echoes? (Milkweed Editions, 2011)

Ish Klein, Union! (Canarium Books, 2009)

Keetje Kuipers, Beautiful in the Mouth (BOA Editions, 2010), winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize [6]

Dorothea Lasky [17], Awe (Wave Books, 2007)

Rickey Laurentiis [29], Boy With Thorn (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

Corinne Lee [13], PYX (Penguin, 2005), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Joseph O. Legaspi [17], Imago (CavanKerry Press, 2007)

Hailey Leithauser, Swoop (Graywolf Press, 2013), winner of the Emily Dickinson First Book Award

Alex Lemon, Mosquito (Tin House, 2006)

Shara Lessley, Two-Headed Nightingale (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2012)

Robin Coste Lewis [29], Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems (Knopf, 2015)

Ada Limón, Lucky Wreck (Autumn House Press, 2006), winner of the Autumn House Poetry Prize [11]

Layli Long Soldier [5], WHEREAS (Graywolf Press, 2017)

Éireann Lorsung [17], Music for Landing Planes By (Milkweed Editions, 2007)

Sheryl Luna [13], Pity the Drowned Horses (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005), winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize [34]

Rachel Mannheimer [15], Earth Room (Changes Press, 2022), winner of the Bergman Prize [37]

Sally Wen Mao [22], Mad Honey Symposium (Alice James Books, 2014)

Aurielle Marie [9], Gumbo Ya Ya (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

Justin Marks, A Million in Prizes (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2009), winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize

Chris Martin [17], American Music (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), winner of the Hayden Carruth Award

Dawn Lundy Martin [17], A Gathering of Matter / A Matter of Gathering (University of Georgia Press, 2007), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

J. Michael Martinez, Heredities (Louisiana State University Press, 2010), winner of the Walt Whitman Award [4]

Katie Marya [15], Sugar Work (Alice James Books, 2022), winner of the Alice James Award Editor’s Choice [8]

Airea D. Matthews [5], Simulacra (Yale University Press, 2017), winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize [12]

María Meléndez, How Long She’ll Last in This World (University of Arizona Press, 2006)

Claire Meuschke [18], Upend (Noemi Press, 2020)

James Fujinami Moore [15], indecent hours (Four Way Books, 2022)

Saretta Morgan [7], Alt-Nature (Coffee House Press, 2024)

Rusty Morrison [13], Whethering (Center for Literary Publishing, 2004), winner of the Colorado Prize for Poetry [38]

Anna Moschovakis, I Have Not Been Able to Get Through to Everyone (Turtle Point Press, 2006)

Cheswayo Mphanza [9], The Rinehart Frames (University of Nebraska Press, 2021), winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry [39]

John Murillo, Up Jump the Boogie (Cypher Books, 2010)

Kristin Naca, Bird Eating Bird (Harper Perennial, 2009), winner of the National Poetry Series mtvU Prize

Diana Khoi Nguyen [10], Ghost Of (Omnidawn Publishing, 2018)

Hieu Minh Nguyen [22], This Way to the Sugar (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014)

Leah Nieboer [3], SOFT APOCALYPSE (University of Georgia Press, 2023), winner of the Georgia Poetry Prize [40]

Chessy Normile [18], Great Exodus, Great Wall, Great Party (American Poetry Review, 2020), winner of the Honickman First Book Prize [23]

José Olivarez [10], Citizen Illegal (Haymarket Books, 2018)

January Gill O’Neil, Underlife (CavanKerry Press, 2009)

Julie Sophia Paegle, torch song tango choir (University of Arizona Press, 2010)

Kristin Palm, The Straits (Palm Press, 2008)

Hannah Sanghee Park [29], The Same-Different (Louisiana State University Press, 2015), winner of the Walt Whitman Award [4]

Morgan Parker [29], Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night (Switchback Books, 2015), winner of the Gatewood Prize

Jeffrey Pethybridge, Striven, the Bright Treatise (Noemi Press, 2013)

Kiki Petrosino, Fort Red Border (Sarabande Books, 2009)

Shaina Phenix [3], To Be Named Something Else (University of Arkansas Press, 2023), winner of the Miller Williams Poetry Prize

Emilia Phillips, Signaletics (University of Akron Press, 2013), winner of the Akron Poetry Prize Editor’s Choice [41]

Maya Phillips [21], Erou (Four Way Books, 2019)

Tommy Pico [14], IRL (Birds, LLC, 2016)

Iain Haley Pollock, Spit Back a Boy (University of Georgia Press, 2011), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

Maya C. Popa [21], American Faith (Sarabande Books, 2019)

Ana Portnoy Brimmer [9], To Love an Island (YesYes Books, 2021)

Jana Prikryl [14], The After Party (Tim Duggan Books, 2016)

Khadijah Queen, Conduit (Black Goat, 2008)

Alicia Jo Rabins [29], Divinity School (American Poetry Review, 2015), winner of the Honickman First Book Prize [23]

Matt Rasmussen, Black Aperture (Louisiana State University Press, 2013), winner of the Walt Whitman Award [4]

Elizabeth Reddin [17], The Hot Garment of Love Is Insecure (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2007)

Justin Phillip Reed [10], Indecency (Coffee House Press, 2018)

Roger Reeves, King Me (Copper Canyon Press, 2013)

No‘u Revilla [15], Ask the Brindled (Milkweed Editions, 2022), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

heidi andrea restrepo rhodes [21], The Inheritance of Haunting (University of Notre Dame Press, 2019), winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize [34]

Joseph Rios [5], Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations (Omnidawn Publishing, 2017)

Leslie Sainz [3], Have You Been Long Enough at Table (Tin House, 2023)

Maya Salameh [15], How to Make an Algorithm in the Microwave (University of Arkansas Press, 2022), winner of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize [42]

Sam Sax [5], Madness (Penguin Books, 2017), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Natalie Scenters-Zapico [29], The Verging Cities (Center for Literary Publishing, 2015)

Danniel Schoonebeek [22], American Barricade (YesYes Books, 2014)

Jimin Seo [7], OSSIA (Changes Press, 2024), winner of the Changes Book Prize [37]

Solmaz Sharif [14], Look (Graywolf Press, 2016)

Matthew Shenoda [13], Somewhere Else (Coffee House Press, 2005)

Simon Shieh [3], Master (Sarabande Books, 2023), winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry [19]

Laura Sims [13], Practice, Restraint (Fence Books, 2005), winner of the Alberta Prize

Safiya Sinclair [14], Cannibal (University of Nebraska Press, 2016), winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize [43]

Jake Skeets [21], Eyes Bottle Dark With a Mouthful of Flowers (Milkweed Editions, 2019), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Emily Skillings [5], Fort Not (The Song Cave, 2017)

Ed Skoog, Mister Skylight (Copper Canyon Press, 2009)

Lytton Smith, The All-Purpose Magical Tent (Nightboat Books, 2009), winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize [24]

Moheb Soliman [9], HOMES (Coffee House Press, 2021)

Susan B. A. Somers-Willett, Roam (Southern Illinois University Press, 2006), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry

Analicia Sotelo [10], Virgin (Milkweed Editions, 2018), winner of the Jake Adam York Prize [36]

Bianca Stone [22], Someone Else’s Wedding Vows (Tin House/Octopus Books, 2014)

Mark Sullivan [13], Slag (Texas Tech University Press, 2005), winner of the Walt McDonald First Book Prize

Dennis James Sweeney [9], In the Antarctic Circle (Autumn House Press, 2021), winner of the Rising Writer Prize [16]

Courtney Faye Taylor [15], Concentrate (Graywolf Press, 2022), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

David Tucker, Late for Work (Mariner Books, 2006), winner of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Bakeless Prize

Sally Van Doren, Sex at Noon Taxes (Louisiana State University Press, 2008), winner of the Walt Whitman Award [4]

Adam Vines, The Coal Life (University of Arkansas Press, 2012)

Ocean Vuong [14], Night Sky With Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press, 2016)

Devon Walker-Figueroa [9], Philomath (Milkweed Editions, 2021), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Karen Weiser, To Light Out (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010)

Sasha West, Failure and I Bury the Body (Harper Perennial, 2013), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Orlando White, Bone Light (Red Hen Press, 2009)

Marcus Wicker, Maybe the Saddest Thing (Harper Perennial, 2012), winner of the National Poetry Series [20]

Steve Willard [17], Harm (University of California Press, 2007)

Karen S. Williams, Elegy for a Scarred Shoulder (Aquarius Press, 2008)

Phillip B. Williams [14], Thief in the Interior (Alice James Books, 2016)

Keith S. Wilson [21], Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love (Copper Canyon Press, 2019)

Ronaldo V. Wilson, Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008), winner of the Cave Canem Prize

Catherine Wing [13], Enter Invisible (Sarabande Books, 2005)

Angela Veronica Wong, how to survive a hotel fire (Coconut Books, 2012)

Shelley Wong [15], As She Appears (YesYes Books, 2022), winner of the Pamet River Prize

Greg Wrenn, Centaur (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry [44]

Jenny Xie [10], Eye Level (Graywolf Press, 2018), winner of the Walt Whitman Award [4]

Wendy Xu, You Are Not Dead (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2013)

Yanyi [21], The Year of Blue Water (Yale University Press, 2019), winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize [12]