Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
| List of years in poetry |
|---|
| (table) |
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
See also 2006 in Australian literature
Poems from these 25 poets were selected by John Newton for Best New Zealand Poems 2015 , published online this year:
This book of British writing (Granta, ISBN 978-1-86207-850-5), edited by Lavinia Greenlaw and Helon Habila, contains short stories, essays and excerpts of novels in addition to poems by these poets:
Poets included in The Best American Poetry 2006 , edited by David Lehman, co-edited this year by Billy Collins:
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
| date not known | Binoy Majumdar | born 1934 | Bengali |
| January 4 | Irving Layton, 93 | born 1912 | Canadian |
| February 21 | Gennadiy Aygi, 71 | born 1934 | Chuvash/ Russian poet |
| February 25 | Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, 69 | born 1936 | Ethiopian poet laureate, in New York |
| March 3 | Ivor Cutler, 83 | born 1923 | Scots poet and comic performer |
| March 15 | Ken Brewer, 64 | born 1941 | American |
| March 27 | Ian Hamilton Finlay, 80 | born 1925 | Scots poet, writer, artist and gardener |
| April 3 | Muhammad al-Maghut, 72 | born 1934 | Syrian Ismaili poet |
| April 13 | Muriel Spark, 88 | born 1918 | English novelist and poet |
| May 1 | Kikuo Takano, 78 | born 1927 | Japanese poet and mathematician |
| May 9 | Jerzy Ficowski, 81 | born 1924 | Polish poet, writer and translator |
| May 14 | Stanley Kunitz, 100 | born 1905 | former U.S. Poet Laureate |
| May 18 | Gilbert Sorrentino, 77 | born 1929 | American novelist and poet |
| June 9 | Enzo Siciliano, 72 | born 1934 | Italian novelist, playwright, literary critic, broadcasting official, teacher and poet [45] |
| June 26 | Jim Simmerman, 54 | born 1952 | American |
| July 6 | Lisa Bellear, 45 | born 1961 | Australian |
| July 14 | Patricia Goedicke | born 1931 | American, of pneumonia |
| July 26 | Louise Bennett-Coverley | born 1919 | Jamaican folk poet known as "Miss Lou" |
| July 30 | Trinidad Sanchez, Jr., 63 | born 1943 | American Chicano performer/poet (stroke complications) |
| July 31 | Lisa Bellear, 45 | born 1961 | Australian indigenous poet, photographer, activist, dramatist, comedian and broadcaster [46] |
| August 11 | Mazisi Kunene, 76 | born 1930 | South African poet and academic |
| August 18 | Shamsur Rahman (also spelled "Shamsur Ruhman"), 76 | born 1921 | Bengali poet, columnist and journalist |
| August 25 | Silva Kaputikyan, 87 | born 1919 | Armenian poet |
| September 4 | Colin Thiele, 85 | born 1920 | Australian poet |
| October 4 | Omran Salahi | Afghanistan poet [8] | |
| November 26 | Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos, 83 | born 1923 | Portuguese painter and surrealist poet |
| November 27 | Győző Határ, 92 | Hungarian poet and writer | |
| December 2 | kari edwards, 52 | born 1954 | American poet, artist and gender activist |
| December 28 | John Heath-Stubbs, 88 | born 1918 | English |
| date not known | Ahmad Hardi | born 1922 | Kurdish |
| date not known | Aristides Paradissis | born 1923 | Australian |