The Bollingen Prize, awarded every two years by the Bollingen Foundation, is a prestigious literary honor bestowed on a poet in recognition of the best book of new verse within the last two years, or for lifetime achievement. It rewards a cash prize, currently $25,000.

Inception

The prize was first conceived and funded by a $10,000 grant from the Bollingen Foundation to the Library of Congress in 1948. The inaugural prize, chosen by a jury of Fellows in American Letters of the Library of Congress, was awarded to Ezra Pound for his famous collection of poems entitled The Pisan Cantos. This choice of a work by a committed Fascist sympathizer infuriated many people in Cold War America, and political pressure led Congress to end the Library of Congress involvement in the program and return the unused portion of the grant to the Bollingen Foundation in 1949. The Bollingen Foundation decided to continue the program, with the administrative tasks being handled by the Yale University Library. The prize was awarded annually from 1948 to 1963, and biennially from 1965 to present.

In 1961 a similar prize was set up by the Bollingen Foundation for best translation and it was won by Robert Fitzgerald for his translation of the Iliad. It has also been won by Walter Arndt for his translation of Eugene Onegin, and in 1963 by Richard Wilbur and ??? jointly.

Recipients