Polish poet wins Peking University prize

Polish poet Adam Zagajewski is this year's foreign recipient of the fourth Zhongkun International Poetry Prize awarded by Peking University Institute of Poetry Studies.

The 68-year-old poet is a teacher at the University of Chicago. Maciej Gaca, culture counselor of the Polish embassy in Beijing, accepted the award on Zagajewski's behalf.

Zagajewski is known as the poet who helped soothe thousands of wounded American hearts after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks. Two weeks after the tragedy, The New Yorker magazine published his work, Try to Praise the Mutilated World on its back page, instead of the normal cartoons. The poem struck a chord with readers and was widely circulated.