Is it true that both Ann Beattie and James Merrill received a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry?
James Merrill James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1977) for "Divine Comedies" (1976). His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyric poetry of his early career, and the epic narrative of occult communication with spirits and angels, titled "The Changing Light at Sandover" (published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980), which dominated his later career. Although most of his published work was poetry, he also wrote essays, fiction, and plays. He also made a cameo in the 1992 film "Lorenzo's Oil" in a symposium scene where he played a questioning doctor, due to filmmakers wanting to emphasize the "everyman" storyline.
List of winners of the Walt Whitman Award The Walt Whitman Award is a poetry award administered by the Academy of American Poets. Named after poet Walt Whitman, the award is based on a competition of book-length poetry manuscripts by American poets who have not yet published a book. It has been described as "a transformative honor that includes publication and distribution of the book though the Academy, $5,000 in cash and a one-month residency at the Vermont Studio Center." The Library of Congress includes the Award among distinctions noted for poets, as does the Poetry Foundation and "The New York Times", which also occasionally publishes articles about new awards.