- October 9, 2006: Senegal celebrates the centenary of the birth of its first president, the poet Léopold Sédar Senghor
- October 5, 2006: The Forward Poetry Prizes go to Robin Robertson, Tishani Doshi, and Sean O'Brien.
- June 14, 2006: Donald Hall is named new U.S. Poet Laureate.
- June 1, 2006: Sylvia Legris and Kamau Brathwaite receive the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize. Robin Blaser is presented with a lifetime achievement award.
- May 14, 2006: Stanley Kunitz dies at the age of 100.
- April 17, 2006: Claudia Emerson wins the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
- March 29, 2006: Grolier Poetry Bookstore is sold.
- 25 February 2006: Ethiopian poet laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin dies in New York at the age of 69.
- 21 February 2006: Chuvash/Russian poet Gennadiy Aygi dies at the age of 71
- January 4, 2006: Romanian-born Canadian poet Irving Layton dies in Montreal at the age of 92.