Sprawl is doing your farming by aeroplane, roughly,
or driving a hitchhiker that extra hundred miles home.
It is the rococo of being your own still centre.
It is never lighting cigars with ten-dollar notes:
that’s idiot ostentation and murder of starving people.
Nor can it be bought with the ash of million-dollar deeds.

Sprawl lengthens the legs; it trains greyhounds on liver and beer.
Sprawl almost never says Why not? with palms comically raised
nor can it be dressed for, not even in running shoes worn
with mink and a nose ring. THat is Society. That’s Style.
Sprawl is more like the thirteenth banana in a dozen
or anyway the fourteenth.

Sprawl is Hank Stamper in Never Give an Inch
bisecting an obstructive official’s desk with a chainsaw.
Not harming the official. Sprawl is never brutal
though it’s often intransigent. Sprawl is never Simon de Montfort
at a town-storming: Kill them all! God will know his own.
Knowing the man’s name this was said to might be sprawl.

Sprawl occurs in art. THe fifteenth to twenty-first
lines in a sonnet, for example. And in certain paintings;
I have sprawl enough to have forgotten which paintings.
Turner’s glorious Burning of the Houses of Parliament
comes to mind, a doubling bannered triumph of sprawl –
except, he didn’t fire them.

Sprawl gets up the nose of many kinds of people
(every kind that comes in kinds) whose futures don’t include it.
Some decry it as criminal presumption, silken-robed Pope Alexander
dividing the new world between Spain and Portugal.
If he smiled in petto afterwards, perhaps the thing did have sprawl.

Sprawl is really classless, though. It’s John Christopher Frederick Murray
asleep in his neighbours’ best bed in spurs and oilskins
but not having thrown up;
sprawl is never Calum who, drunk, along the hallways of our house,
reinvented the Festoon. Rather
it’s Beatrice Miles going twelve hundred ditto in a taxi,
No Lewd Advances, No Hitting Animals, No Speeding,
on the proceeds of her two-bob-a-sonnet Shakespeare readings.
An image of my country. And would that it were more so.

No, sprawl is full-gloss murals on a council-house wall.
Sprawl leans on things. It is loose-limbed in its mind.
Reprimanded and dismissed
it listens with a grin and one boot up on the rail
of possibility. It may have to leave the Earth.
Being roughly Christian, it scratches the other cheek
and thinks it unlikely. Though people have been shot for sprawl.

Heather McHugh, Griffin Poetry Prize 2012 Judge

Heather McHugh was born in San Diego, California. She has published volumes of poetry, translation and essays, and for over 35 years has taught and lectured at universities. She is Pollock Professor of Poetry at the University of Washington, and one of the original visiting faculty at the fabled Warren Wilson MFA Program in Asheville, NC. In 2001, she and Nikolai Popov won the inaugural International Griffin Poetry Prize for their translation of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan. In 2009 she was named a MacArthur Fellow. Her most recent volume of poetry, Upgraded to Serious, was published in the US and Canada. (Click here for additional bio details.)

David O'Meara, Griffin Poetry Prize 2012 Judge

David O’Meara was born in Pembroke, Ontario. He is the author of three collections of poetry, and a play, Disaster. His most recent book is Noble Gas, Penny Black. His work has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including The New Canon, and The Echoing Years, a co-Irish/Canadian anthology. He has been shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, the ReLit Prize, the Trillium Prize, a National Magazine Award, four Rideau Awards (theatre), and was twice winner of the Archibald Lampman Award. He is director of the renowned Plan 99 Reading Series, a founding director of VerseFest, Canada’s International Poetry Festival, and will be poetry instructor at the Banff Centre in September 2012. He continues to tend bar at the Manx Pub in Ottawa. (Click here for additional bio details.)

Fiona Sampson, Griffin Poetry Prize 2012 Judge

Fiona Sampson is a poet, essayist and critic whose most recent books include a new edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Music Lessons: The Newcastle Poetry Lectures. Published in more than thirty languages, she has eleven books in translation including Patuvachki Dnevnik, which was awarded the Zlaten Prsten. In 2009, she received a Cholmondeley Award and was elected an FRSL; she has since been elected to the Council of the Royal Society of Literature. She has received the Newdigate Prize, Writer’s Awards from the Arts Councils of England and of Wales and from the Society of Authors and has been shortlisted twice for both the T.S. Eliot Prize and Forward Prizes. She is currently Distinguished Writer at the University of Kingston and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of London. Her critical survey of contemporary British poetry, Beyond the Lyric will appear in autumn 2012. (Click here for additional bio details.)

All three judges understand the importance of the Griffin Poetry Prize’s international reach and may consequently call in books of English language poetry from around the world.

The shortlisted books (four International and three Canadian) will be announced on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at a press conference in Toronto, Canada.

The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry is pleased to announce that the Shortlist Readings will take place in the magnificent Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, on Wednesday, June 6, 2012.

The winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize will be named at an awards ceremony to be held on Thursday, June 7, 2012.

Note to Publishers:

The submissions deadline for the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prize, for books published between January 1 and December 31, 2011, is Saturday, December 31, 2011. Submitted books must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2011.

If you have any questions regarding the rules, or would like to download an entry form, please visit the How to Enter section of our Web site.

www.griffinpoetryprize.com/rules.php
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For further information, please contact:

Ruth Smith
Griffin Trust Manager
E-mail: info@griffinpoetryprize.com

Download press release | Download photos

Return to the News Release index.

The Griffin Poetry Prize was founded in 2000 to serve and encourage excellence in poetry. The prize is for first edition books of poetry written in, or translated into, English and submitted from anywhere in the world.

International Winner	Canadian Winner
Heavenly Questions Gjertrud Schnackenberg Farrar, Straus and Giroux	Ossuaries Dionne Brand McClelland and Stewart

The awards ceremony, attended by some 400 invited guests, was held in the Fermenting Cellar at the Stone Distillery and hosted by Scott Griffin, founder of the prize, and Trustees Carolyn Forché, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young.

Presenting the winners: Scott Griffin with 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize winners Dionne Brand and Gjertrud Schnackenberg.

The Judges for the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize are Tim Lilburn (Canada), Colm Toíbín (Ireland) and Chase Twichell (United States). These distinguished writers and poets each read 450 books of poetry, received from 37 countries around the globe, including 20 translations. The Judges are selected annually by the Trustees of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry.

On the previous evening, the shortlisted poets read excerpts from their books at a sold-out event for more than 1,000 people in downtown Toronto at The Royal Conservatory, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Koerner Hall.

The 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist features collections by three Canadian poets and four international poets:

• Dionne Brand’s Ossuaries, published by McClelland & Stewart
• Suzanne Buffam’s The Irrationalist, published by House of Anansi Press
• John Steffler’s Lookout, published by McClelland & Stewart

• Seamus Heaney’s Human Chain, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Khaled Mattawa’s translation of Adonis: Selected Poems by Adonis, published by Yale University Press
• Philip Mosley’s translation of The Book of the Snow by François Jacqmin, published by Arc Publications
• Gjertrud Schnackenberg’s Heavenly Questions, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Trustee Michael Ondaatje presented each poet with a leather-bound edition of their book and a $10,000 honorarium.

During the evening, renowned French poet and essayist Yves Bonnefoy was honoured with The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry’s 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award. Trustee Carolyn Forché paid tribute to Yves Bonnefoy and presented him with his award. Universally known for his clear and distinctive poetic style, he has published translations of Yeats, Petrarch, Keats and Shakespeare. As an art historian, he has written critiques of artists such as Miró and Giacometti. The surprise announcement was met with great enthusiasm and a standing ovation from the house.

The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the 2011 Shortlist, edited by Tim Lilburn and published by House of Anansi Press, is now available at most retail bookstores. Royalties generated from the anthologies, published annually, are donated to UNESCO’s World Poetry Day.

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For further information, contact:

Shortlist summary, poet bios and citations
Download press release | Download photos

Purchase 2011 Griffin Prize Anthology and shortlist books online
Return to the News Release index.

Photo credit: Event photo by Tom Sandler

The seven finalists – three Canadian and four International – will be invited to read in Toronto at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. The seven finalists will be awarded $10,000 for their participation in the shortlist readings.

The winners, announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, will be awarded $65,000 each.

Each year, the Griffin Poetry Prize publishes an anthology, a selection of poems from the shortlisted books, published by House of Anansi Press. Royalties from The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology are donated to UNESCO’s World Poetry Day.

Tickets for the Readings to be held on Tuesday, May 31, 2011, at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto are available at http://performance.rcmusic.ca or by calling 416 408 0208.

– 30 –

Note: The publishers mentioned in our release are those who submitted the books.

Note to booksellers: Griffin Poetry Prize posters and stickers are supplied free of charge by The Griffin Trust. Contact info@griffinpoetryprize.com to inquire about ordering these items. Winner stickers will be available after June 1, 2011.

Please direct other inquiries as follows:

Shortlisted Publishers’ Web sites:

Arc Publications
www.arcpublications.co.uk

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
www.fsgbooks.com

House of Anansi Press
www.anansi.ca

McClelland & Stewart
www.mcclelland.com/poetry

Yale University Press
www.yalebooks.com

Shortlist summary, poet bios and citations

Download press release, poet bios and citations | Download photos

Purchase 2011 Griffin Prize Anthology and shortlist books online

Return to the News Release index.

en français

The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry is pleased to let you know about an exciting new program announcement we are making today. If you wish to receive continued news and updates on this new program, we invite you to subscribe to the separate mailing list for this program here.

Addressing an audience of poets, publishers, educators, and members of the media, Scott Griffin commented: “Poetry is not just for the elite — it is a language that should be spoken in the cafés, the streets and especially the classrooms of the nation.”

Speaking alternately in English and French, Scott and Krystyne Griffin went on to introduce Creative Director Ms Damian Rogers, a published poet and journalist; Ms Sepideh Anvar, Project Manager for Québec; and the esteemed Québec poet Pierre Nepveu. The recipient of three Governor General’s Literary Awards, Professor Nepveu won the prestigious Prix Athanase-David Award, honouring his body of work, in 2005.

Damian Rogers, who chose the English poems, and Professor Nepveu, who chose the French poems, are developing an online anthology of previously published works from which contestants will make their selections. The bilingual aspect of the contest encourages both English and French-speaking students to explore the rich literary history of our two official languages. Though students are not required to perform poems in both languages, they will receive extra points for bilingual recitations, where they recite at least one of the three poems in their second language.

Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie has already launched a Pilot Program involving 12 Ontario schools, as follows:

• Bayridge Secondary School, Kingston
• Cawthra Park Secondary School, Mississauga
• Collège Notre-Dame, Sudbury
• Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute, Toronto
• London Central Secondary School, London
• Lockerby Composite School, Sudbury
• R. H. King Academy, Scarborough
• South Carleton High School, Ottawa
• Toronto French School, Toronto and Mississauga
• Trafalgar Castle School, Whitby
• Upper Canada College, Toronto
• Victoria Park Collegiate Institute, North York.

The contest uses a pyramid structure that begins at the classroom level. Winners will advance to the school-wide competition, then to the Pilot Finals on April 12, 2011 at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. The expectation is that the program will expand in 2012 to include all of Ontario and Quebec, and branch out to schools across the country in 2013.

The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry was founded in April 2000 by Chairman Scott Griffin, along with Trustees Margaret Atwood, Carolyn Forché, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young.

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For further information, please refer to:

Media contact:
June Dickenson
Telephone: (905) 689-0388
Cell: (647) 477-6000
E-mail: publicity@griffinpoetryprize.com

Program contact:
Damian Rogers
Cell: (647) 993-5683
E-mail: info@poetryinvoice.com

Visit our Web site at http://www.poetryinvoice.com
Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/poetryinvoice

in English

La Fondation Griffin lance un concours bilingue de récitation de poésie, avec l’aimable participation du poète Pierre Nepveu

Toronto, le 23 novembre 2010 – La Fondation Griffin, The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry, avec le concours poétique de Pierre Nepveu, lance aujourd’hui Les voix de la poésie / Poetry In Voice, un concours national et bilingue de récitation de poésie dont l’objectif est de présenter aux élèves de secondaire et de première année de Cégep partout au Canada les plus belles pages de poésie jamais écrites en français et en anglais.

Les élèves de secondaire et de première année de Cégep seront invités à présenter leurs meilleures récitations de poèmes classiques, modernes et contemporains tout en défendant les couleurs de leur école. Les trois gagnants de la Finale remporteront des prix d’une valeur totale de $10 000 à partager avec les bibliothèques de leur école.

Pierre Nepveu, le grand poète de Lignes aériennes et des Verbes majeurs, entre autres, est responsable de la sélection des poèmes en français. Selon lui : « Les voix de la poésie est un projet éducatif du plus haut intérêt en même temps qu’une merveilleuse forme d’initiation à la poésie. À une époque où dominent le langage utilitaire et les discours de la communication, la lecture et la récitation de poèmes permettent à des jeunes gens de découvrir un autre rapport à la langue, de développer une sensibilité à ses moyens expressifs, à ses rythmes et ses sonorités, au pouvoir de ses images. Toute poésie, si littéraire soit-elle, veut être lue à haute voix. C’est cette aspiration à l’oralité et au chant que le projet Les voix de la poésie souhaite communiquer à une nouvelle génération. »

Pierre Nepveu a enseigné la littérature pendant une trentaine d’années à l’Université de Montréal. Poète, romancier, essayiste, il est l’auteur d’une quinzaine de livres, dont plusieurs recueils de poèmes qui lui ont valu à deux reprises le prix du Gouverneur général. Il est aussi coauteur d’une anthologie rééditée en 2007 : La poésie québécoise, des origines à nos jours.

« La poésie n’est pas du seul ressort des élites – c’est une langue qui devrait être parlée dans les cafés, les rues et surtout dans les écoles du pays », selon Scott Griffin, de la Fondation Griffin. En effet, le programme Les voix de la poésie a été conçu pour offrir un soutien aux enseignants de secondaire et de première année de Cégep. Le programme répond aux critères pédagogiques définis par les instances éducatives de chaque province. Des plans de cours seront présentés aux enseignants et aux directions d’écoles secondaires et de Cégep pour leur donner davantage d’outils dans l’enseignement des programmes de français, d’anglais, d’ALS, de FLS et d’art dramatique.

Les concurrents choisiront leurs poèmes parmi ceux présentés dans les deux anthologies Les voix de la poésie ; l’une recueillant des poèmes écrits en français et l’autre des poèmes en anglais.

Le Programme Pilote se déroule actuellement en Ontario et regroupe des écoles des commissions francophones et anglophones. Au Québec, les inscriptions d’écoles secondaires et de Cégeps sont en cours en vue de la première année du volet Québec en 2011-2012. Par la suite, le programme Les voix de la poésie grandira au fil des années pour finalement toucher toutes les provinces et territoires du Canada et devenir partie intégrante de la culture de ses multiples écoles.

Les voix de la poésie a un double objectif. Le premier est d’apprendre aux élèves à savourer la poésie. Le travail de mémorisation et de récitation qui leur sera demandé leur permettra d’accéder directement au contenu profond des poèmes et de les posséder véritablement. Ce sont des vers qu’ils n’oublieront jamais. La musique, le vocabulaire, les thèmes et les images ainsi acquis nourriront leur expression écrite et orale pour toujours.

Le deuxième objectif du programme est de permettre aux concurrents d’acquérir une expérience précieuse en art oratoire. L’avenir des élèves d’aujourd’hui se construit en grande partie avec deux outils : savoir présenter des idées complexes avec force et savoir se présenter en public.

La Fondation Griffin (The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry) existe depuis 2000 et finance le Prix Griffin (The Griffin Poetry Prize), le prix le plus important au monde décerné à l’édition originale d’un recueil de poésie écrit ou traduit en anglais. La Fondation Griffin veut être l’étincelle qui allume le feu de l’imaginaire poétique du grand public et cause une véritable prise de conscience du rôle vital que joue la poésie dans la vie culturelle.

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Informations médias :
June Dickenson<
Téléphone : (905) 689-0388
Céllulaire : (647) 477-6000
Courriel : publicity@griffinpoetryprize.com

Informations au sujet du programme :
Sepideh Anvar
Céllulaire : (514) 677 0927
Courriel : info@lesvoixdelapoesie.com

Venez nous rendre visite sur notre site internet : http://www.lesvoixdelapoesie.com
Suivez-nous sur Twitter : www.twitter.com/poetryinvoice

See also:

Scott Griffin talks about Poetry In Voice, the Griffin Poetry Prize and poetry in general in this wide-ranging interview with University of Waterloo graduate student Michael G. Khmelnitsky.

Tim Lilburn, Griffin Poetry Prize 2011 Judge

Tim Lilburn was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. He has published eight books of poetry, including To the River (1999), Kill-site (2003) and Orphic Politics (2008). His work has received the Governor General’s Award (for Kill-site) and the Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award (for To the River), among other prizes. A selection of his poetry is collected in Desire Never Leaves: the Poetry of Tim Lilburn, edited by Alison Calder. Lilburn has produced two essay collections, both concerned with poetics, eros and politics, Living in the World as if It Were Home (1999) and Going Home (2008) and edited two other collections on poetics, Poetry and Knowing and Thinking and Singing: Poetry and the Practice of Philosophy. He was a participant in the 2008 Pamirs Poetry Journey. Lilburn teaches at the University of Victoria. (Click here for additional bio details.)

Colm Toibin, Griffin Poetry Prize 2011 Judge

Colm Toíbín is the author of six novels, including The Master, winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, as well as winner of the LA Times Novel of the Year and the Meilleur Livre Etranger in France, and Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Prize for Novel of the Year in the UK. He has been a visiting writer at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New York Review of Books. His work has been translated into thirty languages. (Click here for additional bio details.)

Chase Twichell, Griffin Poetry Prize 2011 Judge

Chase Twichell has published seven books of poetry: Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been: New & Selected Poems, Dog Language, The Snow Watcher, The Ghost of Eden, Perdido, The Odds, and Northern Spy. She is also the translator, with Tony K. Stewart, of The Lover of God by Rabindranath Tagore, and co-editor of The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach. Her work has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Artists Foundation, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2010 Twichell was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Lawrence University. A student in the Mountains and Rivers Order at Zen Mountain Monastery, she lives in upstate New York with her husband, the novelist Russell Banks. (Click here for additional bio details.)

All three judges understand the importance of the Griffin Poetry Prize’s international reach and may consequently call in books of English language poetry from around the world.

The shortlisted books (four International and three Canadian) will be announced on Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at a press conference in Toronto, Canada.

The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry is pleased to announce that the Shortlist Readings will take place in the magnificent Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, on Tuesday, May 31, 2011.

The winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize will be named at an awards ceremony to be held on Wednesday, June 1, 2011.

Note to Publishers:

The submissions deadline for the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize, for books published between January 1 and December 31, 2010, is Friday, December 31, 2010. Submitted books must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2010.

If you have any questions regarding the rules, or would like to download an entry form, please visit the How to Enter section of our Web site.

www.griffinpoetryprize.com/rules.php
- 30 -
For further information, contact:

Download press release | Download photos

Return to the News Release index.

The Griffin Poetry Prize was founded in 2000 to serve and encourage excellence in poetry. The prize is for first edition books of poetry written in, or translated into, English, and submitted from anywhere in the world. In celebration of the prize’s tenth anniversary, The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry doubled the annual prize money to a cumulative amount of $200,000 (which includes $10,000 for each of the shortlisted poets who participated in the Readings).

International Winner	Canadian Winner
The Sun-fish Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin The Gallery Press	Pigeon Karen Solie House of Anansi Press

The awards ceremony, attended by some 400 invited guests, was held in the Fermenting Cellar at the Stone Distillery and hosted by Scott Griffin, founder of the prize, and Trustees Margaret Atwood, Carolyn Forché, Robert Haas, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young.

Presenting the winners: Scott Griffin with 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize winners Karen Solie and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Celebrated poet Glyn Maxwell was the evening’s featured speaker.

Judges for the 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize are the distinguished writers and poets Anne Carson (Canada), Kathleen Jamie (Scotland) and Carl Phillips (United States). They read almost 400 books of poetry, including 12 translations, received from 12 countries around the globe.

The judges are selected on an annual basis by the Trustees of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry.

On the previous evening, the shortlisted poets read excerpts from their books at a sold-out event for more than 1,000 people at The Royal Conservatory, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, Koerner Hall.

The 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist features collections by three Canadian poets – Kate Hall’s The Certainty Dream, published by Coach House Books; Coal and Roses by the late P. K. Page (a selection of which was read by Toronto Poet Laureate and 2003 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted poet Dionne Brand), published by The Porcupine’s Quill and Pigeon by Karen Solie, published by House of Anansi Press; and four international poets – John Glenday’s Grain, published by Picador; Louise Glück’s A Village Life, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s The Sun-fish, published by The Gallery Press and Susan Wick’s translation of Cold Spring in Winter by Valérie Rouzeau, published by Arc Publications.

Also that evening, renowned American poet and essayist Adrienne Rich was honoured with the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award. Trustee Carolyn Forché paid tribute to Rich and presented her with her award.

Trustee David Young presented each poet with a leather-bound edition of their book.

The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the 2010 Shortlist, edited by A. F. Moritz and published by House of Anansi Press, is now available at most retail bookstores. Royalties generated from the anthologies, published annually, are donated to UNESCO’s World Poetry Day. As in past years, copies of the submitted poetry books are being donated to Corrections Canada.

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For further information, contact:

Shortlist summary, poet bios and citations
Download press release | Download photos

Purchase 2010 Griffin Prize Anthology and shortlist books online
Return to the News Release index.

Photo credit: Event photo by Tom Sandler

Scott Griffin said, “the size of the prize reflects the importance the Trustees of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry place on poetry, and its influence on literature. The increased amount of the prize shared among the seven shortlisted poets underlines the importance of the poetry readings, and recognises all seven poets’ books.”

David Young, trustee, announced the International and Canadian shortlist for this year’s prize noting that judges Anne Carson (Canada), Kathleen Jamie (Scotland) and Carl Phillips (USA) each read almost 400 books of poetry, including 12 translations, received from 12 countries around the globe. The seven finalists – three Canadian and four International – will be invited to read in Toronto at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto on Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

Each year, the Griffin Poetry Prize publishes an anthology, a selection of poems from the shortlisted books, published by House of Anansi Press. Royalties from The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology are donated to UNESCO’s World Poetry Day.

Tickets for the Readings to be held on Wednesday, June 2, 2010, at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto are available at http://performance.rcmusic.ca or by calling 416-408-0208.

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Note: The publishers mentioned in our release are those who submitted the books.

Note to booksellers: Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist posters and stickers are supplied free of charge by The Griffin Trust. Click here to view these items and access our order form. Winner stickers will be available after June 3, 2010.

Shortlisted Publishers’ Web sites:

Arc Publications
www.arcpublications.co.uk

Coach House Books
www.chbooks.com

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
www.fsgbooks.com

House of Anansi Press
www.anansi.ca

Picador
www.panmacmillan.com/picador

The Gallery Press
www.gallerypress.com

The Porcupine’s Quill
http://porcupinesquill.ca/

Shortlist summary, poet bios and citations

Download press release, poet bios and citations | Download photos

Purchase 2010 Griffin Prize Anthology and shortlist books online
Return to the News Release index.

Damian Rogers, who is also spearheading a new initiative for The Griffin Trust to be announced later this year, has a strong background in both poetry and media. Rogers has worked as an editor at both Poetry Magazine in Chicago and at Eye Weekly in Toronto and she holds a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in poetry from the Bennington Writing Seminars in Vermont. She is thrilled to be joining the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry in their mission to introduce poetry to a larger audience. A poet herself, Rogers has been passionate about promoting poetry through her work as an arts journalist and as an independent programmer and sought-after host of Toronto literary events. She is looking forward to continuing to raise interest and awareness in her new role.

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For further information, please contact:

Damian Rogers
Email: press@griffinpoetryprize.com

Return to the News Release index.