Living Canon

National Book Award 1983: Complete list of winners

The 1983 National Book Award marked a landmark moment for American poetry, celebrating two distinctive voices at different stages of their careers. Galway Kinnell’s Selected Poems and Charles Wright’s Country Music: Selected Early Poems both took the Poetry prize that year, a dual recognition that reflected the award’s commitment to honoring diverse approaches to the form. Kinnell, already an established figure known for his visceral, spiritual explorations of mortality and the natural world, presented readers with a retrospective spanning decades of his work. Wright, meanwhile, offered a carefully curated collection of his earlier poems that would help define his distinctive lyrical voice for a new generation.

What made this awards season particularly significant was the acknowledgment of two poets working in quite different registers—Kinnell’s grounded, often narrative intensity alongside Wright’s more imagistic, meditative sensibility. The National Book Award, one of the most prestigious honors in American letters, has long served as a bellwether for literary taste, and 1983 was no exception. By recognizing both these collections, the award demonstrated that contemporary poetry could encompass multiple aesthetics and still achieve the kind of artistic excellence the judges were seeking.

These selections offer a fascinating snapshot of American poetry in the early 1980s, a moment when the form was both grappling with its own traditions and pushing toward new possibilities. Below, you’ll find the complete list of 1983 National Book Award winners across all categories.

Poetry