The National Book Foundation sadly marks the passing of National Book Award Winner and Finalist poet William Meredith. A 1965 National Book Award Poetry Finalist for The Wreck of the Thresher, Meredith went on to win the award in 1997 for his collection Effort at Speech: New & Selected Poems.

The program from the 1997 National Book Award Ceremony describe Meredith and his winning title:

Declared to be Meredith's "definitive collection," Effort at Speech draws on nine previous books in addition to a dozen new poems.

William Meredith is a contemporary of John Berrman, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Lowell. His first volume of poetry, Love Letter from an Impossible Land, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 1943; his fourth book, The Wreck of the Thresher, was a Finalist for The National Book Award in 1965.

The poems of William Meredith are possessed of the sturdiness and spare elegance of Shaker furniture. Without demanding attention, he gathers it; without raising his voice, he is distinctively heard. He takes calm, though not unruffled, joy in being an American citizen and in being a most careful observer of the world. His example shows us the truth in his line: "the bright watchers are still there."

- Official judges citation for 1997 National Book Award Poetry Winning title, Effort at Speech.