THE GRIFFIN TRUST
For Excellence In PoetryPress CoverageThe following are highlights of the latest media coverage of the Griffin Poetry Prize and its principals.Note: Some of the links included here require publication subscriptions or registrations. 
May 10, 2008
Griffin-nominated poet has Hamilton roots
by Doug Foley You can take David McFadden out of Hamilton, but you can’t take Hamilton out of him. The city-born poet’s most recent book, Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden, is filled with references to his old hometown. And it has landed him on the Canadian shortlist for the Griffin Poetry Prize 2008.  April 26, 2008
Timely, or time-tested?
When it comes to literary prizes, Fraser Sutherland says, jurors often maintain a high-wire balancing act between the familiar and the new
by Fraser Sutherland To judge by their ages, most of the writers on the shortlists for this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize look a tad geriatric. One is even deceased. César Vallejo, whose Complete Poetry is translated by 73-year-old Clayton Eshleman, died in 1938. John Ashbery (Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems) and Robin Blaser (The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser) are in their 80s. The youngest, Erin Moure, co-translator of Nicole Brossard’s Notebook of Roses and Civilization, is, at 53, a mere juvenile. Of course, the age of poets shouldn't matter, since poetry is supposed to be timeless …  April 17, 2008
Three Canadian poets are in the running for the lucrative Griffin Poetry Prize This week’s podcast features the three home-grown poets nominated for one of the world’s most well-heeled literary awards. There are two categories in the Griffin Poetry Prize: one for a Canadian poet and the other for an international writer. Both winners will be announced on June 4 and will receive $50,000. The podcast has archival interviews with the three Canadian nominees: Robin Blaser, David McFadden and Nicole Brossard.  April 9, 2008
That's 500 pages of quatrains and couplets, stanzas and sonnets
by Adam McDowell, There's nothing short about some of titles on the Griffin Poetry Prize short list, announced yesterday. Three Canadian books will vie for the $50,000 domestic purse: Robin Blaser's 500-page collection The Holy Forest, David McFadden's 328-page Why Are You So Sad? and Notebook of Roses and Civilization, a mere 76-pager by Nicole Brossard (with translators Robert Majzels and Erin Moure).
April 9, 2008
Older poets' greatest hits make the cut
by James Adams Jurors for the Griffin Poetry Prize for excellence in English-language verse leaned heavily on older poets and their “greatest hits” in their choices yesterday for the finalists for its eighth annual instalment.  April 9, 2008
Brossard, McFadden, Blaser vie for Griffin Poetry Prize
Canwest News Service Montreal feminist postmodernist Nicole Brossard and Pulitzer Prize winner John Ashbery are among the writers shortlisted for the $100,000 Griffin Poetry Prize, one of the most lucrative poetry prizes in the world. The annual prize awards $50,000 to each of two winners, one Canadian and one international. 
April 8, 2008
Robin Blaser in the running for the lucrative Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian Press – Simon Fraser University professor emeritus Robin Blaser, considered to be one of North America's most outstanding poets of the postwar period, is in the running for the lucrative Griffin Poetry Prize.  April 8, 2008
Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal poets vie for Griffin Prize Vancouver poet Robin Blaser, Toronto's David McFadden and Montreal's Nicole Brossard and her translators have been nominated for the Griffin Poetry Prize. The Griffin Prize, which awards $50,000 to each of two winners, is offered annually to a Canadian and an international poet writing in English. The international nominees are New York-based poets John Ashbery and Elaine Equi, Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo and his translator and David Harsent of the U.K.
April 8, 2008
Griffin shortlists announced
by Stuart Woods Two small-press titles and another from a U.S. academic press are vying for the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize in the Canadian category. Award founder and sponsor Scott Griffin, alongside trustee David Young, announced the Canadian and international shortlists at a press conference in Toronto on Tuesday morning. 
April 8, 2008
When Poetry Meets Politics
What a new Pulitzer Prize winner tells us about age and public writing
by Nathan Heller Time and Materials, Robert Hass' fifth collection of poems, is a book about hitting the cold water of late middle age, but the story it tells is not so much of decline as of reinvention. Hass is in the front lines of a baby-boom generation coming to terms with its past. He was born in San Francisco a few months before the Pearl Harbor bombing and came of age in a cultural landscape overshadowed by Beats, hippies, and the Vietnam War. He got interested in Eastern thought, got subpoenaed as an SDS adviser in Buffalo, returned to California in time for the first tech boom, and eventually taught at Berkeley. The zeitgeist stuck with him like an Al Capp rain cloud even through his 50s: In 1995, Hass – whose poetry features proud regionalism and plainspoken eloquence, not to mention a strong tropism toward sex – became poet laureate during the Clinton administration.
February 16, 2008
Monumental journey
Why it took Scott Griffin seven years to raise a statue of poet Al Purdy
by Tenille Bonoguore It’s not the kind of company Al Purdy would normally keep: a king, a queen, a dusting of premiers, resplendent in rigid formality. This man cut the toes off his too-small shoes and wore them to meet the Governor-General. He wrote poems about drinking and throwing up. His greatest works celebrated the base realities of life. So you have to wonder what Al Purdy would make of the fact that, on May 20, his larger-than-life bronze countenance will be installed at Queen’s Park to become the nation’s first full-sized statue of a Canadian poet.
September 5, 2007
Former poet laureate George Bowering joins Griffin Prize jury George Bowering, Canada's first poet laureate, has been selected to judge one of the country's most distinguished poetry honours.
July 25, 2007
LIT T.O.—July 25–July 30 The 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology edited by Karen Solie, Anansi. Because we attended the sold-out reading prior to the Awards Gala, we’ve heard some of these poems before, and it’s interesting to see them on the page. We’re mostly familiar with the poets featured on the Canadian shortlist, but are really enjoying getting to know Priscila Uppal’s work better.
June 13, 2007
Charles Wright Interview Charles Wright, recently won the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize for Scar Tissue. He is also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award, and teaches at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  June 8, 2007
A winning poet Don McKay has been one of Victoria’s most celebrated poets for years. His extraordinary work draws heavily on nature for inspiration. It’s at once quiet and profound and – we mean this in the best possible way – accessible, exploring our place in the world.
June 8, 2007
B.C. poet wins Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize
Three-times-nominated Don McKay scoops the $50,000 award for his book Strike/Slip
by Rebecca Wigod Twice a bridesmaid, and now the bride. After being nominated three times for the Canadian half of the Griffin Poetry Prize, Don McKay has won the attention-getting $50,000 purse. The B.C. poet, author of Strike/Slip, a book inspired by the landscape along a fault line on southern Vancouver Island, collected the award at a midweek ceremony in Toronto.
June 7, 2007
Books: Griffin Poetry Prize report
by Damian Rogers On June 4, at the seventh annual Griffin Poetry Prize Gala, poets Don McKay and Charles Wright each won the coveted $50,000 purse award for the Canadian and International categories, respectively. And while this brought an end to the sporting competition that is the awkward but necessary framework for shining such a bright light on the often neglected po-biz circus, the lingering effects of so much pixie dust will be felt for some time. The Griffin Prize has in its short lifespan already become an institution, and a remarkably vital one at that, working to etch Toronto’s name that much more deeply into the global literary map.
June 7, 2007
McKay wins $50,000 poetry prize
Ontario-raised poet wins largest Canadian poetry award for his 11th collection, Strike/Slip
by Vit Wagner If there was a sentimental favourite to win the Canadian award at the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize – and the $50,000 cheque that went with it – it was Don McKay.
June 7, 2007
The Griffin Groove
by Brian D. Johnson Hats off to Scott Griffin for hosting what has routinely become the best awards night of the year—the Griffin Poetry Prize gala. Last night’s 7th annual edition of awards was not the only game in town. There were so many cultural goings-on in Toronto last night that the literati didn’t know which way to turn … But the best party was at the Stone Distillery, where Scott and Krystyne Griffin were honouring the art of poetry with their impeccable hospitality.
June 7, 2007
Celebrated Canadian poet Don McKay wins $50,000 Griffin Prize A veteran Canadian author who has twice won the Governor General’s award for poetry was one of two recipients of the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize, awarded Wednesday at a lavish ceremony in Toronto. Canadian Don McKay won for Strike/Slip, his 11th book of poetry, which was lauded by judges as a book of “patience, courage, and quiet eloquence.”
June 7, 2007
McKay, Wright share top poetry award and $100,000
Canadian and American to split $100,000
by James Adams Veteran poets triumphed last night at the 7th annual Griffin Poetry Prize ceremony in Toronto's Distillery District. June 7, 2007
Griffin Poetry Prize Winners Don McKay’s Strike/Slip and Charles Wright’s Scar Tissue are the Canadian and international winners, respectively, of the seventh annual Griffin Poetry Prize. June 6, 2007
Don McKay and Charles Wright win prestigious poetry prizes at star-studded gala Canadian Press – Don McKay and Charles Wright were awarded the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prizes Wednesday at a splashy Toronto ceremony that attracted a who's who of Canadian literary icons. June 6, 2007
LIT T.O.—June 6 to June 11 Last night, six of seven poets nominated for The 2007 Griffins – and one actor – read to a sold-out house at the Macmillan Theatre. Imagine: 800+ people clapping ecstatically for poetry, and a standing ovation for lifetime achievement winner Tomas Tranströmer (people wept). Nominee Ken Babstock, who has been the subject of a few interviews this week, told the audience, “If I’m going to be asked one more time by the media if poetry is dead, I’m gonna go postal.”
June 6, 2007
Like music to our ears
by Vit Wagner Whatever pleasure comes from hearing writers read their own work increases exponentially when the writers in question are poets, the best of whose recitations can sound like songs with secret, hidden notes. The musical accompaniment might be missing, but tempo, rhythm and sometimes even melody can be detected when the authors, who are in a privileged position to know how the line is meant to scan, are also the performers.
June 6, 2007
No more rock, this poet’s on a roll
Former guitarist Ken Babstock published his first book of poetry in 1999. Now, his third is up for the richest poetry prize in Canada
by James Adams What’s popularity any way? … A newspaper can feature an article about a handbag every single Saturday. But does poetry want that? … People in the culture are reading poetry, always have and always will. I just don’t know if it has to have the same face as Paris Hilton. – Ken Babstock Ken Babstock admits he has done his “fair share of griping about awards’ short lists,” especially when his name hasn’t appeared on one honour roll or another … In the past few months, however, Babstock has had little cause for caterwauling …  June 4, 2007
McKay hopes award boosts poetry’s rep
Poet, nominated for $50,000 Griffin Prize, says it isn’t the money that matters to him
by Vit Wagner If poet Don McKay is thinking about what it would be like to cash the $50,000 cheque that comes with winning the Griffin Poetry Prize, the two-time runner-up isn't letting on. “I try not to focus on that aspect of it too much because the money is not the heart of it,” he says on the line from Banff Centre, where he has spent the spring coaching young writers.
May 31, 2007
Why Poetry?
by Scott Griffin The other day I was asked why I like poetry, as if liking poetry was some strange aberration that required explanation. “Probably for the same reason that some people like music,” I replied. The question though, spoke volumes about how far poetry had slipped from the mainstream of our cultural lives, which is somewhat bewildering to me. May 19, 2007
The quick and the read
by George Fetherling There’s always much criticism of book prizes because they can sometimes corrupt (or even silence) the winners while scorching the losers, and turning the act of writing into a gladiatorial combat. Because of the genre it represents, the Griffin Poetry Prize is probably an exception. For the most part, even highly sophisticated novel readers feel squeamishly uninformed about contemporary poetry. The Griffin has helped a great deal by becoming a bridge between poets and the all-too-often poem-shy audience. Anne Simpson is the perfect illustration of how this works. She is a Nova Scotian whose first book, Light Falls Through You, took one national and one regional prize. But, to say the least, her reputation and her readership increased dramatically when Loop, her second collection, received the Griffin …  May 3, 2007
Poetry profits
Free-market poets' economy of words
by Robert Priest When poets talk about economy they’re usually referring to the economy of language. But this year, as another Poetry Month passes, there is growing concern about Canadian poetry’s financial future. A quick glace at the headlines might at first be reassuring: the Governor General’s Award has gone up to $25,000 from $15,000, the Griffin Prize has risen from $40,000 to $50,000, and poet laureate positions keep popping up like mushrooms in small towns and cities across the land. Behind the scenes, though, the Harper government has left the mass of Canadian poets a net pay decrease.
April 28, 2007
'The hair on the back of your neck stands up'
With poetry in the spotlight this month, local writers reflect on the genre's rewards
by Lisan Jutras Will it be third time lucky for Don McKay? When we celebrate National Poetry Month each April, we’re tipping our hats not only to the art form, but to the poets themselves, who perform the thankless task of writing what few read and fewer still understand. It takes a very particular kind of masochism to engage in this pursuit, which brings the practitioner neither glory nor income and is derided even, occasionally, by poets themselves.
April 7, 2007
Third time lucky for B.C. poet at the Griffin Awards?
by Chantal Eustace If Victoria poet Don McKay were, say, to win a certain award that he’s nominated for – hypothetically speaking, of course – he’d buy himself the most precious thing a poet could ask for: time.
April 5, 2007
Lines of beauty
The lowdown on this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize nominees
by Barbara Carey Poetry and big bucks don’t commonly go together like a fizzy cocktail and a swizzle stick – which is why the announcement of finalists for the Griffin Poetry Prize creates an annual stir.
April 4, 2007
Griffins Take Flight Past Griffin Award recipient Christian Bök once stated, “The Griffin is the poetry award that can drastically change a poet’s life.” Christian isn’t exaggerating: the $100,000 prize, shared by two winners, is one of the largest poetry awards in the world. In a 2000 speech, Scott Griffin, founder of The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, explained, “the poetry prize had to be of sufficient size to make a statement that declared that poets and poetry are just as important as novelists and their works.”
April 4, 2007
Griffin Prize: Lyricists duke it out over two $50,000 prizes
Thanks to benefactor's thrift, poetry won't get short shrift
by Vanessa Farquharson From an unprecedented 483 submissions, the shortlist for this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize was finally narrowed down to seven writers, six of whom happen to be men. “In previous years we’ve had more women, so I think it’s just the way the dice roll,” said Scott Griffin, founder of the prize, which is now in its seventh year and one of the world’s most lucrative. A total of $100,000 is awarded to two winners, one Canadian and one international, who split the money evenly.
April 4, 2007
McKay gets third nod
by James Adams Will it be third time lucky for Don McKay? The veteran Canadian poet was shortlisted for the third time yesterday in the Canadian division of the annual Griffin Poetry Prize, worth $50,000. McKay, 65, has won two Governor-General's Awards for English-language poetry, in 1991 and 2000 – but he has come up short-handed on the previous occasions that he has vied for Griffin honours, in 2001 and 2005. He will know if he's victorious when the winner is announced on June 6 at a gala dinner in Toronto.
April 3, 2007
Canadian Don McKay shortlisted for Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian poetry veteran Don McKay and Frederick Seidel, one of the founding editors of iconic literary magazine The Paris Review, are among the seven shortlisted poets vying for the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize.
April 3, 2007
Griffin shortlist unveiled
by Vit Wagner Don McKay, a two-time nominee for the Griffin Poetry Prize, was again named today to the Canadian shortlist for the lucrative literary award.
April 3, 2007
Babstock, Uppal, McKay vie for Griffin
by Leigh Anne Williams Ken Babstock’s Airstream Land Yacht, Priscila Uppal’s Ontological Necessities, and Don McKay’s Strike/Slip are the nominees for this year's Griffin Poetry Prize in the $50,000 Canadian category. The Griffin unveiled its Canadian and international shortlists in Toronto today. None of the nominated poets were in attendance, but a celebratory hoot came from the House of Anansi Press contingent when Babstock’s name was announced. April 3, 2007
Frederick Seidel, Don McKay among those on Griffin Poetry Prize short lists Frederick Seidel – a protege of Ezra Pound and a founding editor of The Paris Review – is in the running for the lucrative Griffin Poetry Prize. The Canadian short list, meanwhile, includes two poets from Toronto as well as veteran wordsmith Don McKay from Victoria.  April 3, 2007
Seven vie for poetry's big prize
by Tenille Bonoguore What do you get when three Canadians, three Americans and a Brit walk into a bar?
The shortlist for the $100,000 Griffin Poetry Prize, Canada's highest-paying literary prize for arguably the least popular of the literary arts.
And it could be third time lucky for B.C. poet Don McKay, who joins Toronto-based poets, Ken Babstock and Priscila Uppal, on the shortlist for the $50,000 national prize.
November 20, 2006
Poets aplenty, but who's reading the verse?
In a market where 'skyrocketing' sales mean five books sold a week, do poetry prizes make any difference at all? Apparently, they do
by James Adams Proclamations of the death of poetry have grown more insistent and numerous over the last 25 years, but this hasn’t stopped a lot of people – too many, some would argue – from continuing to write it and, occasionally, see it published. 
July 25, 2006
CBC Radio’s And Sometimes Y
The Edge of Language Christian Bök, author of Eunoia, the experimental poetry book that won the Griffin Poetry Prize, joins host Russell Smith to explore the topic “What is language for, and how does it work?”
July 15, 2006
Experiments in language
Work by Griffin Prize winners Sylvia Legris and Kamau Brathwaite yield stellar results
by Harold Heft Literary awards can be a mixed blessing: Designed to reward excellence, they also create inflated expectations. We often hear readers say that they are “pleasantly surprised” by an obscure book and “generally disappointed” by major award winners. In Canada, no literary award is more generous or, arguably, more prestigious than the Griffin Poetry Prize. Created in 2000 by Scott Griffin, an auto parts manufacturer, the award has the admirable ambition “to raise public awareness of the crucial role poetry must play in society’s cultural life.” Each year, the Griffin Prize provides $50,000 (a fortune in the poetry milieu) to one Canadian winner and one international winner, and this international focus has succeeded in putting Canada on the world’s literary map.
June 27, 2006
A Poet’s Winning Season
Sylvia Legris's break-out book won the Griffin, and her life may never be the same
by Patricia Robertson At the beginning of this month, Sylvia Legris’s quiet poet’s life was dramatically altered when she won the coveted 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize. Three times is apparently a charm, since it was her third book of poetry, Nerve Squall (Coach House Books, 2005), that garnered top honours. Recently Legris and I shared a discreet upstairs booth at Grandma Lee’s Bakery in downtown Saskatoon. It’s her favourite haunt, she says, because it’s low-key and serves great Rice Krispy squares, but she’s a bit on edge. Since the Griffin gala on June 1, Legris has hit the poetry jackpot, been inundated with attention and been run over by a scathing critic. 
June 22, 2006
Looking outside of Canadian poetry
Phil Hall on inspiration, language and the restraints of nationalism
by Derek Beaulieu In Dawson City, Griffin-Prize nominee Phil Hall has found a community willing to challenge itself culturally, and like that small, northern city, Hall has continuously looked outside his own community for inspiration, seeking to combine the traditionally “poetic” with non-poetic subject matter. 
June 19, 2006
They Are Poets, Hear Them Roar
A ritzy prize and initiatives like ‘Poetry Out Loud’ are turning poets into rock stars
by Anne Kingston At the end of the long red carpet strewn with rose petals, Scott and Krystyne Griffin greet their guests. Four hundred people are gathering in Toronto this evening in early June for the naming of the 2006 Griffin Prize winners. This is Canada’s richest literary award - $50,000 to a Canadian poet, $50,000 to an international poet. The short list of three Canadian and four international poets has been winnowed from 444 books submitted from 20 countries.  June 7, 2006
Kamau Brathwaite Wins Griffin Prize
by Colin Rickards
Pride Contributing Writer Barbados-born poet Kamau Brathwaite won the International section of the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize for his volume Born to Slow Horses at a gala event in the Distillery District last Thursday. He beat three other International poets – from Germany, the U.S. and Iraq – to win the world’s most valuable poetry prize. Saskatoon poet Sylvia Legris emerged victorious in a field of three to win the Canadian section. June 5, 2006
Verse attracts a full house
by Joe Fiorito We have an abiding affection for dactyls, strophes and dithyrambs and so we went to the MacMillan Theatre one night last week, to listen to the Griffin Prize poets read their work. We arrived early and it was a good thing we did, because the house was full. We found seats near the front."Where else but in Canada could you get 1,000 people out to a poetry reading," said a fellow in the row behind us to his friend. Where else, indeed? 
June 3, 2006
Prestigious Canadian poetry prizes awarded Canadian Sylvia Legris and Barbadian Kamau Brathwaite were awarded the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize at a ceremony attended by writers and publishers from around the world. The awards, worth $45,332 (US) each to a Canadian and an international winner, are among the richest poetry prizes in the world. They were presented during an Asian-themed gala dinner Thursday night.
June 2, 2006
Saskatoon poet wins Griffin Prize
by James Adams A three-member international jury awarded Sylvia Legris the $50,000 Canadian part of the Griffin Poetry Prize at a ceremony last night in Toronto's Distillery Historic District. The Saskatoon poet took the cash for a collection titled Nerve Squall, her third book of poetry and one of three books short-listed for the prize. Winning the $50,000 international prize was Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite for his book, Born to Slow Horses.
June 2, 2006
CBC.ca Words at Large
2006 Griffin Poetry Prize Sylvia Legris and Kamau Brathwaite are the Canadian and international winners of the 6th annual Griffin Poetry Prize. Eleanor Wachtel speaks to the winners of the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize immediately following the awards ceremony. Canadian winner Sylvia Legris of Saskatchewan and international winner Kamau Brathwaite from Barbados talk about what winning this prestigious prize means to them.
June 2, 2006
Prize earns a poem as two Griffins given
by Judy Stoffman Wearing an African tunic and a knitted cap, Kamau Brathwaite recited one of his hypnotic poems as he accepted the $50,000 Griffin Prize last night at a sumptuous dinner at the Stone Distillery … Brathwaite was honoured for his book Born to Slow Horses, published by Wesleyan University Press. Canadian winner was Sylvia Legris of Saskatoon, who also took home $50,000.The double Griffin Prize, founded six years ago by the auto parts entrepreneur, is the world's most generous poetry award.
June 2, 2006
Legris takes home Griffin Sylvia Legris' Nerve Squall (Coach House Books) took home the award for Canadian poetry at the Griffin Poetry Prize ceremony in Toronto last night. The collection, Legris' third, was as widely acclaimed upon its publication, and it is also up for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, to be handed out in Ottawa on June 10. It was not only Legris' first Griffin win, but her first nomination as well. June 1, 2006
Brathwaite, Legris win Griffin Poetry Prizes
by Brett Popplewell Canadian Sylvia Legris and Barbadian Kamau Brathwaite were awarded the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prizes Thursday at a glitzy Toronto ceremony. The awards, worth $50,000 to a Canadian and an international recipient, are among the richest poetry prizes in the world. They were presented during a gala dinner in the city's historic distillery district. A nervous Legris, who said she took the train from Saskatchewan to attend the colourful awards ceremony, thanked the jury and other poets for the honour. “It's remarkable just being in your company and meeting all of you,” she said. “This is terrifying, but it's such an honour.”
June 1, 2006
A Berkeley Renaissance man
Who's Robin Blaser? If you are interested in poetry - not just in Canada but in North America - you should know this Griffin honoree, writes Canada's first poet laureate, George Bowering For four decades, Robin Blaser has been one of the most influential poets in the North American world, but he does not possess a household name. Most professors of Canadian literature do not teach his work and probably have not read it either. Yet he is a member of the Order of Canada. He collaborated with the eminent British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle on the opera The Last Supper, which was commissioned by the Staatsoper of Berlin and Glyndebourne Opera in 2000. His book of collected poems, The Holy Forest, was edited by Stan Persky and Michael Ondaatje, introduced by Robert Creeley, and published by Coach House Press in 1993. It is 400 pages long, and it is not light reading. But last night at Toronto's MacMillan Theatre, Blaser was presented with a special Life Time Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.
May 30, 2006
CBC.ca Words at Large
2006 Griffin Poetry Prize On June 1, the Griffin Poetry Prize will be awarded to two poets whose works, including translations, were published in English last year. (Includes link to audio clip of Scott Griffin interview with Shelagh Rogers on This Morning, September 7, 2000.) May 27, 2006
Catching a Rhyming Star
by Kenneth Sherman Baudelaire said that he could imagine a person going without food for two days, but not without poetry. And yet, many go without. Poetry’s partisans contend that the public is simply unaware. Offer people poetry and they will take to it. There are encouraging signs. American poet Billy Collins, a writer of accessible and intelligently entertaining poetry, reportedly earns a living from royalties and readings. Camille Paglia’s Break, Blow, Burn, a lucid explication of 43 traditional and modern poems, has been a brisk seller since its publication last year. In Canada, the Griffin Poetry Prize has done much to advance the cause. Named for Scott Griffin, their generous patron, the annual awards go to the two best books of poetry, including translations, published in English in the previous year. One book is chosen from a Canadian, the other from an international shortlist. The inclusion of translations has enlivened the proceedings with such foreign-language heavyweights as Yehuda Amichai (Hebrew) and Paul Celan (German). Regrettably, since the Griffin’s inception in 2001, no translated Québécois poet has been nominated for the Canadian award. This is not the fault of the adjudicators. The volumes of French Canadian poetry translated into English in the past five years can be counted on one hand. (I hope someone from the Canada Council is reading this.) 
May 1, 2006
The Griffin Poetry Prize 2006 Shortlists
by Nathaniel G. Moore The Danforth Review summarizes the Griffin Poetry Prize 2006 shortlists, along with reactions from the Canadian publishers whose volumes were nominated. April 7, 2006
Prize Fighters
Sizing up the Griffin Poetry Prize finalists
by Barbara Carey Cash and cachet go together when it comes to literary awards, so it’s no surprise that the Griffin Poetry Prize, which announced the 2006 finalists April 5, is a big deal. The annual prize splits $100,000 between a Canadian winner and an international one, making it the richest haul for a single volume of poetry in the world. It’s also hotly contested: this year’s judges read 441 books, from 15 countries (including translations from 20 languages), in just three months. (On top of their honorarium, they deserve a medal for valour.) April 6, 2006
Diverse poets vie for Griffin
by Judy Stoffman A book of poems originally written in Arabic by a refugee from Saddam's Iraq is in the running for the world's richest poetry prize. Elizabeth Winslow's English translation of The War Works Hard, by Dunya Mikhail, is one of four books on the international short list of the Griffin poetry prize, announced yesterday April 6, 2006
Lucrative awards put poetry in motion
Griffin prize lists nominees for two $50,000 purses Although many writers and editors will argue that poetry doesn't sell, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood and the rest of the trustees behind Canada's Griffin Poetry Prize are out to challenge this belief. And there's no better time to get the ball rolling than in April, which is poetry month. April 6, 2006
Awards: Peabody, IMPAC, Griffin and Trillium
by Michael Posner Three Canadians and four international poets will vie for 2006 Griffin Poetry Prizes. The two short lists – drawn from some 441 submissions from 15 countries – were announced yesterday in Toronto by Scott Griffin, founder of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, and David Young, trustee. April 5, 2006
Moure, Hall, Legris up for 2006 Griffin From a record number of submissions, the jury for the Griffin Poetry Prize has narrowed this year’s competition for the Canadian prize to three books by mid-career poets. On the international side, the four-title shortlist spans the globe, including books by authors from the U.S., Germany, Barbados, and Iraq. April 5, 2006
Poets from Saskatoon, Montreal make short list for $100,000 Griffin prize Poets from Saskatoon, Montreal and Toronto are in the running for this year's Griffin Poetry Prize. The prize, created six years ago by Toronto businessman Scott Griffin along with trustees who include Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, awards $50,000 to the best book of Canadian poetry and $50,000 to the best book of international poetry. April 5, 2006
Griffin Poetry Prize nominates poets from Saskatoon to San Francisco Poets from Saskatoon, San Francisco and London are among those nominated for one of the world's most prestigious poetry awards, the Griffin Poetry Trust announced Wednesday. April 5, 2006
Short list unveiled for Griffin Poetry Prize Seven poets are being considered for the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize, selected from a record number of entries from around the world – proof the fledgling award is gaining an international reputation … “It’s like tasting food you’ve never had before,” [trustee David Young] said. “You realize that this is somebody’s world. These are all really great poets. The fact that you haven’t even heard of some of them is pretty exciting. It tells you that the world of poetry is big and rich and broad.”
 August 2, 2005
In Addition to His Pugnacity and Charm, He Can Write Poetry
by Timothy Williams On a gray and rainy day recently, the poet August Kleinzahler was eating a hot dog and greasy fries at a hot dog shop in Fort Lee, N.J., called Hiram’s, a gruff, no-frills place that Mr. Kleinzahler says is about as close to the literary establishment across the river in Manhattan as he cares to be. But Mr. Kleinzahler, 55, noted both for poems that jarringly marry the high and the low and for keeping his distance from the New York illuminati, has found himself late in his career in a rather awkward spot: the cusp of respectability in the cliquish world of poetry. June 19, 2005
Review of Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida, by Roo Borson
by J. Mark Smith One of the finer things in Roo Borson’s Griffin Prize winning book is “Persimmons,” a prose narrative about the fruit of the trees she associates with her mother’s garden, with a Japanese man who was her mother’s gardener, with her own adolescence, and with her mother’s death … I quote these sentences as an exhibit to begin with, because Short Journey Upriver stands or falls as a collection of poetry on the twenty pages of much more challenging free verse that make up its first section, “Summer Grass.” June 6, 2005
Relishing poetry with lots of mustard
by Joe Fiorito The Griffin Poetry Prizes have been awarded for another year. Scott Griffin earned his fortune making shock absorbers; $50,000 is a shocking amount for any writer, let alone a poet, to absorb. June 3, 2005
Roo Borson wins Griffin Poetry Prize Veteran poets Roo Borson and Charles Simic are the newest winners of the $100,000 Griffin Poetry Prize, the world’s richest prize for a single volume of poetry. June 3, 2005
Roo Borson wins Griffin Poetry Prize
by Guy Dixon Roo Borson, the Toronto-based writer known for her contemplative works that search for identity along many splintered paths, was the winning Canadian poet in this year's Griffin Poetry Prize, receiving $50,000 for her book Short Journey Up River Towards Oishida.
June 3, 2005
Toronto, U.S. poets win Griffin honours
by Judy Stoffman Charles Simic from New Hampshire won the international award and Toronto’s Roo Borson was the Canadian winner when the Griffin Prize for poetry was given out for the fifth time last night at a candlelit banquet in the Distillery. Founder Scott Griffin this year increased the value of the twin awards by $10,000 to $50,000 each, making them the most generous literary awards in English Canada, and for poetry anywhere. He also foots the bill to take the winners to several international literary festivals. June 2, 2005
Roo Borson wins Griffin Poetry Prize for Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida
by Anne-Marie Tobin, Canadian Press Roo Borson has won the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize awarded to a Canadian, while Charles Simic of New Hampshire collected an equivalent amount for the international portion of the prestigious award Thursday night. Cheques were handed out at a dinner bash in the historic distillery district attended by hundreds of guests, including Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, founder Scott Griffin and writer Margaret Atwood.  May 26, 2005
Simply Simic
by Emily Schultz Poet Charles Simic speaks with care. It’s not hesitation in his voice, but pacing, almost as if his sentences have line breaks already built into them. While this is enhanced by his Eastern European accent, lingering after 50-plus years in North America, speaking from his home in New Hampshire, it’s his thoughtfulness that stands out as Simic talks about what it means to live and write from the time of the Beats to the current day. A previous winner of the Pulitzer Prize as well as many fellowships, Simic is now one of four finalists for the $50,000 international Griffin Poetry Prize. His book, Selected Poems: 19632003, was chosen from a pool of 433 entries submitted from 17 different countries. With the hope of fostering an international poetry community, Toronto’s Scott Griffin founded the Griffin Awards in 2000, backed by a foundation including poetry heavyweights Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje.
April 19, 2005
Beer and poetry – so Canadian
by Simon Houpt A gaggle of Canadian poets will hoist books and beers in New York this week at three events to help publicize a landmark achievement: the first publication in recent memory of a Canadian poetry anthology in the United States … Griffin Poetry Prize founder Scott Griffin will be on hand to present 755 volumes of Canadian poetry to bolster the 45,000-title library at Poet’s House. The donation, organized by a staffer at the local consulate, came from more than 30 publishers including Coach House Press, House of Anansi, Key Porter, McClelland & Stewart, Broken Jaw, Porcupine’s Quill and Brick Books. Ekstasis Editions and Turnstone Press each donated more than 100 volumes. 
April 14, 2005
Poetry: a career with a future
by Pieta Woolley The judges for one of the planet’s richest literary prizes agree: British Columbia makes great poets. All three of the Canadian poets on the shortlist for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize have a local connection. April 7, 2005
Short list revealed for Griffin Poetry Prize “Poetry had tended to slip out of the mainstream of our cultural lives. Poets were not only at the back of the bus, I’m not even sure they were even on the bus,” founder Scott Griffin told CBC News at Wednesday evening’s announcement, which unveiled the short list as well as the new prize amount [$100,000], increased from the previous $80,000. When establishing the prize in 2000, with the help of trustees such as Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, the Toronto businessman wanted to promote, celebrate and encourage the writing of poetry worldwide. April 7, 2005
Three Canadians on shortlist for annual Griffin poetry prize
Canadian Press Three Canadians are among seven poets to make the short list for this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize, it was announced Wednesday by the prize’s trustees. A record-breaking 433 books from 17 countries were submitted for the prize, awarded for the two best books of poetry, including translations, published in English the previous year. Each winning poet receives $50,000.
 November 7, 2004
Talking with August Kleinzahler
Poet and Memoirist
Growing Up Jersey
By Philip Connors Cutty, One Rock (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $19), which includes the title essay and eight others, many of them also published in the London Review, is an unexpected debut in prose for August Kleinzahler. Known in this country chiefly as a poet, he writes hilariously in Cutty about growing up Jewish in an Italian neighborhood of Fort Lee, N.J., where the school playground “was like a theme park for Tourette’s syndrome.”  October 30, 2004
BBC Radio 3 - The Verb
with host Ian MacMillan Margaret Atwood and Robert Bringhurst talk to Ian MacMillan about the Classical Hyda Mythtellers, the native American stories which Atwood describes as ‘An American Iliad’. October 30, 2004
Hot ticket: Canadian poets
by Elizabeth Renzetti LONDON -- The Griffin Poetry Prize rolled into London this week, and conquered without even firing a shot. It was a red-carpet greeting for Canadian writers during the Poetry International festival in London. A reading featuring five writers, including Margaret Atwood and Anne Carson, was standing-room only at the Royal Festival Hall, and The Times Literary Supplement commissioned and published poems from four of the poets on the bill. The reading “is the hot ticket of the festival,” said Scott Griffin, benefactor of the Griffin Prize and a one-man campaign to put poetry at the centre of cultural life. “It will be a significant cut above what else you’ve seen. It really will be the highlight of the festival.”  July 28, 2004
Deep-Sea Creature
August Kleinzahler never wrote a best-seller. Award-winning poets seldom do.
by Jonathan Kiefer In person Kleinzahler is more an even and amiable listener than the cranky, judgmental, viciously funny son-of-a-bitch he can be in print.  July, 2004
The Griffin Poetry Prize 2004(Link to Acrobat [PDF] newsletter)
The Ambassador - Canada Cuba Literary Alliance magazine
by Kimberley E. Grove On Wednesday, June 2, the Cinderella story came to life for the Canadian poetry scene. Instead of the usual small gathering of 20-30 committed poetry fans, the large auditorium at the Edward Johnson building was filled. El 2 de junio, la historia de Cenicienta se hizo realidad para el panorama de la poesía canadiense. En lugar de la usualmente pequeña reunión de 20 a 30 admiradores comprometidos con la poesía, el gran auditorio del edificio Edward Johnson estaba lleno. June 19, 2004
Wanted: verse of distinction
Review of The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the 2004 Shortlist
by Fraser Sutherland By now we know which two poets won this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize. From Canadian candidates, the judges – Phyllis Webb and two former national poets laureate, Bill Manhire of New Zealand and Billy Collins of the United States – chose Anne Simpson for Loop, bleak, well-wrought poems about history’s nightmares. Simpson conducts exhumations and postmortems, and tracks the scars of the human record.  June 16, 2004
Low-profile writer wins lucrative poetry prize
by Claudia La Rocco
The Associated Press August Kleinzahler, a fiercely independent poet who has never hidden his disdain for the creative writing establishment, was awarded the $29,200 [US] Griffin Poetry Prize earlier this month for his latest collection, “The Strange Hours Travelers Keep.” June 5, 2004
Power partying for the lit and glit crew
by Leanne Delap Thursday evening was a drag for cab drivers, what with major downtown arteries blocked and about 2,000 revellers gaily commuting to two major galas on the waterfront and all the attendant pre-party cocktails and after-party, well, more cocktails around town. June 4, 2004
U.S. Poet Wins Canadian Poetry Prize
By Colin McClelland
Associated Press Writer U.S. poet August Kleinzahler has won one of the world's most prestigious poetry prizes, Canada's $29,200 Griffin Prize, for his book, "The Strange Hours Travelers Keep."  June 4, 2004
Poets Simpson, Kleinzahler share $80,000 Griffin Prize Two poets – an Atlantic Canadian and an American with a Canadian pedigree – were named winners of the 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize in Toronto Thursday evening. Griffin Prize for Poetry Special with Eleanor WachtelLast night, the Griffin Prize honoured outstanding poetry from Canada and elsewhere. Tonight, Eleanor Wachtel brings you highlights from the awards gala, along with the poets and their work, in a one-hour special edition of The Arts Today and Between the Covers. June 4, 2004
Two poets scoop Griffin
Cheered by 400 enthusiasts Poetry `coming back in fashion'
by Judy Stoffman Anne Simpson of Antigonish, N.S., and August Kleinzahler, who lives in San Francisco, split the English-speaking world's richest poetry prize last night at a gala dinner for 400 hosted at the Distillery District by Toronto philanthropist Scott Griffin. June 3, 2004
Nova Scotia poet takes home the Griffin
by Rebecca Caldwell Nova Scotia poet Anne Simpson was named the Canadian winner of the $40,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for her work Loop, during a raucous ceremony last night in Toronto's historic Distillery district. May 30, 2004
To passion and cash
It's Griffin Prize week, which marks the arrival of Canada's true poetry month — see what a bulging wallet can do?
by Noah Richler June is … now the true "poetry month" in Canada. It is a development attributable in its entirety to the success of the Griffin Poetry Prize, to be awarded Thursday in Toronto. It is actually quite remarkable, what passion and piles of cash can do. May 29, 2004
'A kind of music must occur'
by Rebecca Caldwell As they prepare to announce the winners of this year's lucrative Griffin Prize for poetry, judges Bill Manhire, Billy Collins and Phyllis Webb talk to Rebecca Caldwell about the search for a 'compelling voice,' and what it's like to read 40 books of verse a day. April 17, 2004
Consider yourself warned
by Clarise Foster Now You Care, by acclaimed poet and essayist Di Brandt, takes its title from this line in one of the most disturbing pieces in her fifth and most ambitious poetry collection: “Now that it’s much too late/ now you care.” April 1, 2004
Windsor poet a finalist for two lit prizes
Makes Trillium, Griffin short lists
Hopes it will fan interest in verse
by Judy Stoffman Short lists for two major literary prizes were announced yesterday — a lucky day for poet Di Brandt, who was the only one in the running for both the Trillium prize, Ontario's highest literary honour, and the Griffin prize, the richest poetry award in the world. April 1, 2004
… big day for book prizes
by Michael Posner with a report from Ray Conlogue … Elsewhere, the Griffin Trust, sponsor of the world’s richest prizes for poetry – $80,000 – announced the 2004 nominees. “I’m shaking,” said Di Brandt, on learning she was one of three nominated for the $40,000 prize given to the Canadian winner. “I’m not good at surprises.” March 31, 2004
Short list for Griffin Poetry Prize unveiled The short list for the 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize was announced Wednesday. The organizers of the award, which has a purse of $80,000, bill it as “the most lucrative prize to accept books of poetry from any country in the world.”  March, 2004
Jet-propelled jaunts
Peter Campion follows the exhilarating leaps of August Kleinzahler's lively imagination in The Strange Hours Travelers Keep From the highways of Texas to the quays of Paris, from San Francisco’s Chinatown to the Asiatic steppes: the poems in August Kleinzahler’s latest collection zoom across the map, gaining speed as they go. But there’s seldom any jetlag to this poet’s lines. Travel seems to offer Kleinzahler an array of heightened feeling tones.
Previous Griffin Poetry Prize coverage, including launch | 
