For the first time ever, I am reading the 75th National Book Awards Poetry Longlist. It is a total of 10 poetry collections.
Before digging into a single book, I lightly researched identity data for this year’s honorees. I was interested in what generations, races/ethnicities, and zodiac signs are represented on the 2024 list. Most of this information was readily available in poet bios, interviews, and on the first page of a google search.
Since this is the first time I have read the list and done this research, I do not have data from other years to compare.
Personal Privacy
I did not dig for information out of respect for privacy. So, if the info. was not readily and publicly available on the internet, I let it be.
Standout Points in the Data
Women make up the majority of the longlist. Boomers, then Gen X, have the largest age group cohorts. The list includes a majority of BIPOC poets, and Earth signs seem most prevalent on the list.
Generation Breakdown
Millennial – 1/10
- Octavio Quintanilla
Gen X – 3/10
- Fady Joudah
- Gregory Pardlo
- Rowan Ricardo Phillips
Boomer – 4/10
- Anne Carson
- Dorianne Laux
- Diane Seuss
- Elizabeth Willis
Unknown – 2/10
- m.s. RedCherries’ and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha’s ages are not publicly available.
Race/Ethnicity Breakdown
Black American – 2/10
- Rowan Ricardo Phillips
- Gregory Pardlo
Indigenous American – 1/10
- m.s. RedCherries
Mexican American -1/10
- Octavio Quintanilla
Palestinian American – 2/10
- Fady Joudah
- Lena Khalaf Tuffaha*
*Also: Jordanian-Syrian American
White American / Canadian* – 4/10
- Anne Carson*
- Dorianne Laux
- Diane Seuss
- Elizabeth Willis
Zodiac Sign
Cancer – 1/10
- Anne Carson
Capricorn – 2/10
- Fady Joudah
- Dorianne Laux
Libra – 1/10
- Gregory Pardlo
Taurus – 2/10
- Elizabeth Willis
Unknown – 5/10
- Rowan Ricardo Phillips
- Octavio Quintanilla
- m.s. RedCherries
- Diane Seuss
- Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
Annotate With Sara 