"Lighthead" by Terrance Hayes wins the National Book Award

Professor Terrance Hayes, has won the coveted National Book Award for his poetry collection Lighthead.  Read more: CMU Press Release;  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In honor of his win, the Pittsburgh City council named November 30, 2010, Terrance Hayes Day in Pittsburgh.

Since being published in April, Lighthead has received glowing reviews and much acclaim, including a 2010 Pushcart Prize. For over 30 years, the Pushcart Prize has honored writers of short stories, poetry, and essays. The selected authors are then published in the annual series, The Pushcart Prize - Best of Small Presses.

On Monday, January 24, The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) announced that Lighthead is a finalist for their 2010 awards. (Read more about this announcement here.)

In the upcoming months, Hayes will hold poetry readings at the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University, as well as serve as a guest professor at the four-day Tomales Bay Workshop in California. You can watch him read select poems from Lighthead at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsCzw06waIM. 

Hayes has written three other collections, including Wind in a Box, Muscular Music, and Hip Logic. He has been honored with multiple Best American Poetry selections, a Whiting Writers Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

The National Book Foundation announced award winners on November 17th in New York City. To view a complete list of the 2010 National Book Awards winners, visit http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2010.html.