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Minnesota poet Danez Smith was announced Monday as a finalist for the 

. They received the recognition for their poetry book “Bluff,” published by Graywolf Press in Minneapolis. 

“We're thrilled to announce that BLUFF is a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Poetry,” Graywolf Press 

The poems were written during the COVID-19 pandemic and as “Minneapolis became the epicenter of protest following the murder of George Floyd,” according to the book’s summary on the 

“Bluff is Danez Smith’s powerful reckoning with their role and responsibility as a poet and with their hometown of the Twin Cities. This is a book of awakening out of violence, guilt, shame and critical pessimism to wonder and imagine how we can strive toward a new existence in a world that seems to be dissolving into desolate futures,” the summary said. 

Smith, who lives in Minneapolis, is also the author of “Don’t Call Us Dead,” which was a National Book Award finalist.

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Danez Smith is a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist for the poetry book ‘Bluff,’ published by Graywolf Press in Minneapolis.

Minnesota poet Danez Smith announced as Pulitzer Prize finalist for poetry

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