Writing for
The New York Times in 2015,
Stephen Burt described Cave Canem as "a major incubator for the current renaissance in black poetry, which includes the poets
Tracy K. Smith, who won the 2012
Pulitzer Prize in poetry; Afaa Michael Weaver, who won the Kingsley Tufts prize last year; and, most recently,
Claudia Rankine, who won the
National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry this year."
Retreat Currently held annually at the
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Cave Canem’s tuition-free retreat is a week of faculty-led writing workshops and poetry readings for African-American poets. Accepted applicants (fellows) may participate for a maximum of three summers within a five-year period. Past faculty have included Presidential Inaugural poet
Elizabeth Alexander;
Book prizes Cave Canem Foundation sponsors two annual book prizes. One is the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, awarded for an exceptional first book by an African-American poet and published by the
University of Pittsburgh Press;
Natasha Trethewey won the inaugural prize in 1999 for her collection
Domestic Work. Other winners have included
Lyrae van Clief-Stefanon (2001) and
Donika Kelly (2011) for her book,
Bestiary. The second is the Cave Canem
Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize, a second-book award established in 2009 that "celebrates and publishes works of lasting cultural value and literary excellence" by African-American poets. It is awarded every other year.
Legacy conversations Established in 2001, these moderated discussions feature poets and scholars who "have played historic roles in African-American poetry." Participants have included
Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott,
Pulitzer Prize winner
Rita Dove, and poet and activist
Amiri Baraka.
Poets on Craft series Launched in 2008, Poets on Craft features “award-winning poets in the early-to-middle stages of their careers. Poets meet in moderated conversation, discussing aesthetics, the role of the contemporary poet and other topical issues.” Participants have included
National Book Critics Circle Award finalist
Major Jackson and
Walt Whitman Award winner
Suji Kwock Kim.
Regional workshops Established in 1999, workshops for emerging poets of color are held semi-annually in
New York City and, more recently, in
Columbia, South Carolina, in partnership with the South Carolina Poetry Initiative. Instructors have included former
Poet Laureate of Connecticut,
Marilyn Nelson,
Whiting Writers' Award winner
Tyehimba Jess, and
American Book Award winner,
Kimiko Hahn. ==Awards==