May 15, 2025
Harlem poet named 2025 Roethke Poetry Prize winner
An interdisciplinary poet and sound artist has been selected as the winner of the 2025 Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize from Saginaw Valley State University.
A trio of judges selected LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs for her collection “Village” (Coffee House Press, 2023). She is invited to the SVSU campus in March 2026 to accept the award, which includes a $15,000 cash prize, during the triennial Theodore Roethke Poetry & Arts Festival.
“I am humbled by the news of receiving this award,” Diggs said. “To have my work voiced in the same breath, associated with the late Theodore Roethke is immense.”
This year's judges were Rigoberto González, Patricia Spears Jones and Erika Meitner. All three were appointed by the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress to select the winner of the prize.
In making their selection, the judges described the prize-winning collection: "Rooted in Harlem, ‘Village’ by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, explodes with sonic energy and delivers a compelling chronicle of American despair and creativity. Diggs constructs an original, performance-rich text inhabited by multi-lingual characters, both kith and kin, who are flawed, complicated and caring. This book is a song to survival and persistence."
A writer, vocalist and media sound artist, Diggs’ experimental and performance-based work addresses themes of global inequality, displacement and forced migration. In addition to “Village,” Diggs authored “In Search of Sugar Cane (Dia Art Foundation, 2025), the poetry collection “TwERK” (Belladonna, 2013) and several chapbooks. She is also the co-editor of “Coon Bidness/SO4,” an African American visual arts and literature journal. Her interdisciplinary work has been exhibited at several prestigious New York museums, including the Whitney and the Museum of Modern Art. She received the 2020 C.D. Wright Aard for Poetry from the Foundation of Contemporary Art, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and other grants and fellowships from other organizations.
Diggs earned her MFA in creative writing at California College of the Arts and holds a bachelor's degree from New York University.
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) is widely regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century. Born and raised in Saginaw, Roethke graduated Arthur Hill High School, then entered the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He earned Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and Master of Arts degrees from U-M and pursued graduate studies at Harvard University.
Roethke won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book “The Waking,” and was twice awarded the annual National Book Award for Poetry. Roethke taught English at several universities, including Michigan State University, Lafayette College (Pennsylvania), Pennsylvania State University, Bennington College (Vermont), and the University of Washington.
The Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize has been offered since 1968 on a triennial basis. The Prize is given for a book published in the previous three years that has made an important contribution to American poetry. The recipient must be a living American poet. The prize is awarded without regard to number of publications, age, gender, place of residence, style or type of poetry, or choice of subject matter; this award is not for total achievement, but for an individual book.
The judges considered many noteworthy collections of poetry. Diggs was among four finalists for the award. The other finalists were:
• Rick Barot, Moving the Bones, Milkweed Editions, 2024
• Robyn Schiff, Information Desk, Penguin, 2023
• m.s. Red Cherries, mother, Penguin, 2024
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The dates for the six-day Theodore Roethke Poetry & Arts Festival are Friday, March 20, 2026, to Wednesday, March 25, 2026. The Roethke Poetry Prize Award Ceremony will be the evening of Tuesday, March 24, 2026.