The Derek Walcott Estate noted in a press statement on November 15 that it was happy to announce the recipients of two prizes: the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry to Antonella Anedda, and the Derek Walcott Theatre Arts Scholarship (2023/2024) to Zion McNeil.
The prize was given to McNeil at a ceremony held in April at the UWI, St. Augustine campus by co-executors of the Walcott Estate, Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw and Anna Walcott-Hardy.
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Each year, a Caricom student who is enrolled in UWI’s Theater Arts Department is given the Derek Walcott Theatre Arts Scholarship.
The Derek Walcott Festival in Port of Spain/Walcott Estate, in collaboration with Arrowsmith Press, announced in November that Diane Mehta had selected Anedda as this year’s Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry for her book Historiae, which was translated from Italian by Susan Stewart and Patrizio Ceccagnoli and published by the New York Review of Books.
Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott (1930–2017) generously donated the prize in 2014, according to the press statement. The estate is still dedicated to upholding the prize.
Every year, a full-length collection of poetry published in the preceding calendar year by a live poet who is not a US citizen (green card holders are eligible) is awarded the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. No matter where it was published, the book must be in English or an English translation.
Anedda is an Italian poet, short-story writer, essayist, and translator who was born in Rome in 1955 to Sardinian parents, according to the release. She has written nine volumes and won the coveted Viareggio Prize for her poetry collection, Salva with nome, published in 2012.
The poet and the translators will split the US$2,000 cash award with Anedda.
The yearly prize was established in 2019 and is given to a live poet who writes in any language and is not a US citizen for a book published in English or an English translation during the preceding calendar year.
According to the publication, the 2025 Walcott Prize is now accepting submissions.
