Pulitzer Prize Poetry Winner

Walking to Martha's Vineyard

by Franz Wright

Summary

Wright writes from inside addiction, mental illness, and tentative spiritual recovery, with poems shaped by silence and prayer. His lines are short, broken, and direct, often verging on plainness yet charged with metaphysical longing. The collection wrestles openly with faith and survival, inheriting and reshaping the somber lyric tradition of his father.

Historical Context & Significance

This win made the Wrights the only father and son to both win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (James won in 1972).