Major Jackson, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, has been named the inaugural recipient of the newly established Patricia Cannon Willis Prize for American Poetry. Presented by the Collection of American Literature at Yale University’s Beinecke Library, the award recognizes Professor Jackson’s book, Razzle Dazzle: New and Selected Poems 2002-2022 (W.W. Norton, 2023).
At Vanderbilt, Professor Jackson serves as a professor of English and director of the creative writing program. In addition to his latest award-winning publication, he is the author of five other books of poetry and a collection of prose. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves as the poetry editor of The Harvard Review.
Professor Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Temple University and a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Oregon.
