Meet 2026 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent… | The Poetry Foundation
Tariq Thompson's poetry treats language as a time capsule, carrying grief, memory, and connection across the distance between writer and reader. Photo by Nicholas Nichols Leading up to the 2026 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows' reading at the Dodge Poetry Festival on October 17, we will feature profiles of each of the five fellows. We are excited to continue introducing you to and celebrating these outstanding young poets. One of things Tariq Thompson will do with the financial prize attached to their 2026 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship is purchase a proper headstone for his nana. Thompson’s grandmother died in 2022, and he was a finalist for the Fellowship the following year. For Thompson, honoring his grandmother using funds from a literary prize is quite apt. He describes her as “the origin of [his] language.” She was a writer herself, and after she died, Thompson received her daily journals. He describes her entries as nearly formalist, c