Which Beat writer won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Turtle Island?

Gary Snyder won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection Turtle Island.

Turtle Island was published in 1974 and combines poems and prose shaped by environmental awareness, Buddhist practice, Indigenous imagery, and Snyder’s experience of landscapes in North America and Asia. The title refers to a traditional name for North America found in several Indigenous cultural traditions.

Snyder was connected to the Beat circle through his friendships with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Kerouac based the character Japhy Ryder in The Dharma Bums partly on Snyder, though the fictional character is not a complete portrait of the poet.

The Pulitzer made Snyder one of the most widely recognized poets associated with the Beats, but his work is also central to later environmental and ecological poetry. He spent years studying Zen Buddhism in Japan and often linked literary practice with practical work, wilderness, and attention to place.