2007   National Book Award for Young People's Literature

2007   Western Literature Association Distinguished Achievement Award

2005   Pushcart Prize for poem "Avian Nights," published in Dangerous Astronomy

2001   PEN/Malamud Award from PEN/Faulkner Foundation

1998-2001   World Heavyweight Poetry Champion

1998   Smoke Signals: Sundance Film Festival Audience Award

BSC students will have read one of his novels for his visit under the Campus Read Program.