12th Annual ‘T’ Space Poetry Award Winner: Pierre Joris

February 2, 2024

This Groundhog Day, ‘T’ Space is delighted to announce Pierre Joris as the recipient of the 12th Annual ‘T’ Space Poetry Award!

Pierre Joris has moved between Europe, the US & North Africa for 55 years, publishing over 80 books of poetry, essays, translations & anthologies — most recently Todesfuge / Deathfugue Pierre Joris & Paul Celan (Small Orange Import, 2024), Interglacial Narrows (Poems 1915-2021) & Always the Many, Never the One: Conversations In-between, with Florent Toniello, both from Contra Mundum Press. In 2020, his two final volumes of Paul Celan translations came out: Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The Collected Earlier Poetry (FSG) & Microliths They are, Little Stones: Posthumous Prose (CMP). In 2019, Spuyten Duyvil published Arabia (not so) Deserta (Essays on Maghrebi & Mashreqi literature). Other recent works include A City Full of Voices: Essays on the Work of Robert Kelly (co-edited with P. Cockelbergh & J. Newberger, CMP, 2020), earlier: Conversations in the Pyrenees with Adonis (CMP 2018) & The Book of U (poems, with Nicole Peyrafitte, Simoncini 2017). He lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with his wife, pluridisciplinary artist Nicole Peyrafitte.

PARADISE IS
where land meets sea

where the outside
of our bodies

meets the
inside

of
world

*

The duet, lush with resonance and reference, has become a beautiful habit for Pierre Joris. His interviews let you see so far outside that coming around again, but off, is easy. The resulting spiral is a new curriculum and in this “riot of air” it’s almost like we know all that he knows. — Fred Moten 

Each year, ‘T’ Space celebrates the achievements of a leading poet of spirited vision and devoted practice in the field of poetry. The award reflects ‘T’ Space’s commitment to poetry and its role in expanding consciousness, influencing art and architecture, and connecting communities through language. Recipients align with ‘T’ Space’s mission through their engagement in the cross-pollination of art forms and breaking of convention. Each year’s chosen poet reads their work during our Synthesis of the Arts celebration, uniting poetry with music, art, architecture, and nature. Congratulations to Pierre!

Read more about poetry at ‘T’ Space here.