Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. The awards go to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language.
Effective 2010, the annual Griffin Poetry Prize was doubled from CAD$100,000 to CAD$200,000 in recognition of the prize’s tenth anniversary. The increased amount of $100,000 will be awarded as follows: CAD$10,000 to each of the seven shortlisted – four international and three Canadian – for their participation in the shortlist readings. The winners, announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening, will be awarded CAD$65,000 each, for a total of CAD$75,000 that includes the CAD$10,000 awarded at the readings the previous evening.
History
In April 2000, Scott Griffin started the Griffin Trust to raise public awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in society's cultural life. Griffin served as its Chairman, with Trustees Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young. In June 2004, Carolyn Forché joined the board of Trustees. New trustees have been named as follows: in 2014, Karen Solie, Colm Tóibín and Mark Doty, in 2016, Jo Shapcott and Marek Kazmierski, and in 2018, Ian Williams. Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and Colm Tóibín have assumed the role of Trustees Emeriti.The Trust created the Griffin Poetry Prize with the aim of helping to introduce contemporary collections of poetry to the public's imagination. Originally, the award was two annual prizes of CAD$40,000 each, for collections of poetry published in English during the preceding year. One prize for a living Canadian poet, the other to a living poet from any other country, which could include Canada. Qualified judges are selected annually by the Trustees. The prize shortlists are announced in April every year. The shortlisted poets gather for an evening of public readings every May/June, and the winners are announced and all the poets are feted the following evening.
Each year, selections from the shortlisted works are gathered in The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology, typically edited by one of that year's judges. In 2019, House of Anansi Press partnered with the National Network for Equitable Library Services to offer the anthology in print and digital Braille editions.
Eligible collections of poetry must have been published between January 1 and December 31 of the prior year. Submissions must come from publishers only.
In November 2010, Scott Griffin announced a new Griffin Trust initiative called Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie, a bilingual recitation contest for high school students across Canada.
The Griffin Trust has championed other initiatives since its inception, including a statue in tribute to poet Al Purdy, participation in international poetry festivals, and donations of poetry books to various organizations, including the Correctional Service of Canada, Scottish Poetry Library and other libraries, schools and colleges.
Finalists, Judges and Lifetime Recognition recipients
Winners are listed first and highlighted with bold.2001">2001 in poetry">2001
Canada:- Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours
- Robert Bringhurst, Nine Visits to the Mythworld
- Don McKay, Another Gravity
- Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh, translation of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems from the German written by Paul Celan
- Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld, translation of Open Closed Open from the Hebrew written by Yehuda Amichai
- Fanny Howe, Selected Poems
- Les Murray, Learning Human
- Carolyn Forché
- Dennis Lee
- Paul Muldoon
2002">2002 in poetry">2002
Canada:- Christian Bök, Eunoia
- Erin Mouré, Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person
- Karen Solie, Short Haul Engine
- Alice Notley, Disobedience
- Victor Hernández Cruz, Maraca
- Christopher Logue, Homer: War Music
- Les Murray, Conscious and Verbal
- Dionne Brand
- Robert Creeley
- Michael Hofmann
2003">2003 in poetry">2003
Canada:- Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot
- Dionne Brand, thirsty
- P. K. Page, Planet Earth: Poems Selected and New
- Paul Muldoon, Moy Sand and Gravel
- Kathleen Jamie, Mr And Mrs Scotland are Dead: Poems 1980-1994
- Gerald Stern, American Sonnets: poems
- C. D. Wright, Steal Away: selected and new poems
- Michael Longley
- Sharon Olds
- Sharon Thesen
2004">2004 in poetry">2004
Canada:- Anne Simpson, Loop
- Di Brandt, Now You Care
- Leslie Greentree, go-go dancing for Elvis
- August Kleinzahler, The Strange Hours Travelers Keep
- Suji Kwock Kim, Notes From the Divided Country
- David Kirby, The Ha-Ha
- Louis Simpson, The Owner of the House
- Billy Collins
- Bill Manhire
- Phyllis Webb
2005">2005 in poetry">2005
- Roo Borson, Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida
- George Bowering, Changing on the Fly
- Don McKay, Camber
- Charles Simic, Selected Poems: 1963-2003
- Fanny Howe, On the Ground
- Michael Symmons Roberts, Corpus
- Matthew Rohrer, A Green Light
- Simon Armitage
- Erin Mouré
- Tomaž Šalamun
2006">2006 in poetry">2006
Canada:- Sylvia Legris, Nerve Squall
- Phil Hall, An Oak Hunch
- Erin Mouré, Little theatres
- Kamau Brathwaite, Born to Slow Horses
- Michael Hofmann, translation of Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems from the German written by Durs Grünbein
- Michael Palmer, Company of Moths
- Elizabeth Winslow, translation of The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail
- Lavinia Greenlaw
- Lisa Robertson
- Eliot Weinberger
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: Simon Armitage
2007">2007 in poetry">2007
Canada:- Don McKay, Strike/Slip
- Ken Babstock, Airstream Land Yacht
- Priscila Uppal, Ontological Necessities
- Charles Wright, Scar Tissue
- Paul Farley, Tramp in Flames
- Rodney Jones, Salvation Blues
- Frederick Seidel, Ooga-Booga
- John Burnside
- Charles Simic
- Karen Solie
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: Matthew Rohrer
2008">2008 in poetry">2008
Canada:- Robin Blaser, The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser
- Robert Majzels and Erin Moure, translation of Notebook of Roses and Civilization from the French written by Nicole Brossard
- David McFadden, Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden
- John Ashbery, Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems
- Elaine Equi, Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems
- Clayton Eshleman, translation of The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition from the Spanish written by Cesar Vallejo
- David Harsent, Selected Poems 1969-2005
- George Bowering
- James Lasdun
- Pura Lopez Colome
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: Paul Farley
2009">2009 in poetry">2009
Canada:- A. F. Moritz, The Sentinel
- Kevin Connolly, Revolver
- Jeramy Dodds, Crabwise to the Hounds
- C.D. Wright, Rising, Falling, Hovering
- Mick Imlah, The Lost Leader
- Derek Mahon, Life on Earth
- Dean Young, Primitive Mentor
- Saskia Hamilton
- Dennis O'Driscoll
- Michael Redhill
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: James Wood
2010">2010 in poetry">2010
Canada:- Karen Solie, Pigeon
- Kate Hall, The Certainty Dream
- P. K. Page, Coal and Roses
- Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, The Sun-fish
- John Glenday, Grain
- Louise Gluck, A Village Life
- Susan Wicks, translation of Cold Spring in Winter from the French written by Valérie Rouzeau
- Anne Carson
- Kathleen Jamie
- Carl Phillips
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: Glyn Maxwell
2011">2011 in poetry">2011
Canada:- Dionne Brand, Ossuaries
- Suzanne Buffam, The Irrationalist
- John Steffler, Lookout
- Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Heavenly Questions
- Seamus Heaney, Human Chain
- Khaled Mattawa, translation of Adonis: Selected Poems from the Arabic written by Adonis
- Philip Mosley, translation of The Book of the Snow from the French written by Francois Jacqmin
- Tim Lilburn
- Colm Tóibín
- Chase Twichell
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Jonathan Welstead, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
2012">2012 in poetry">2012
Canada:- Ken Babstock, Methodist Hatchet
- Phil Hall, Killdeer
- Jan Zwicky, Forge
- David Harsent, Night
- Yusef Komunyakaa, The Chameleon Couch
- Sean O'Brien, November
- Joanna Trzeciak, translation from Polish of Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Rózewicz
- Heather McHugh
- David O'Meara
- Fiona Sampson
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Alexander Gagliano, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
2013">2013 in poetry">2013
Canada:- David McFadden, What's the Score?
- James Pollock, Sailing to Babylon
- Ian Williams, Personals
- Fady Joudah, translation of The Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems from the Arabic written by Ghassan Zaqtan
- Jennifer Maiden, Liquid Nitrogen
- Alan Shapiro, Night of the Republic
- Brenda Shaughnessy, Our Andromeda
- Suzanne Buffam
- Mark Doty
- Wang Ping
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: Pura López Colomé
2014">2014 in poetry">2014
Canada:- Anne Carson, Red Doc>
- Sue Goyette, Ocean
- Anne Michaels, Correspondences
- Brenda Hillman, Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire
- Rachael Boast, Pilgrim's Flower
- Carl Phillips, Silverchest
- Mira Rosenthal, translation of Colonies from the Polish written by Tomasz Rozycki
- Robert Bringhurst
- Jo Shapcott
- C.D. Wright
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Khalil Mair, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: August Kleinzahler
2015">2015 in poetry">2015
Canada:- Jane Munro, Blue Sonoma
- Shane Book, Congotronic
- Russell Thornton, The Hundred Lives
- Michael Longley, The Stairwell
- Eleanor Goodman, translation of Something Crosses My Mind from the Chinese written by Wang Xiaoni
- Marek Kazmierski, translation of Finite Formulae & Theories of Chance from the Polish written by Wioletta Greg
- Spencer Reece, The Road to Emmaus
- Derek Walton, Griffin Trust For Excellence in Poetry, Lifetime Recognition Award
- Tim Bowling
- Fanny Howe
- Piotr Sommer
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Ayo Akinfenwa, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
2016">2016 in poetry">2016
Canada:- Liz Howard, Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent
- Per Brask and Patrick Friesen, translation of Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments from the Danish written by Ulrikka S. Gernes
- Soraya Peerbaye, Tell: poems for a girlhood
- Norman Dubie, The Quotations of Bone
- Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings
- Don Paterson, 40 Sonnets
- Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Heaven
- Alice Oswald
- Tracy K. Smith
- Adam Sol
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Marie Foolchand, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
2017">2017 in poetry">2017
Canada:- Jordan Abel, Injun
- Hoa Nguyen, Violet Energy Ingots
- Sandra Ridley, Silvija
- Alice Oswald, Falling Awake
- Jane Mead, World of Made and Unmade
- Donald Nicholson-Smith, translation of In Praise of Defeat from the French written by Abdellatif Laabi
- Denise Riley, Say Something Back
- Sue Goyette
- Joan Naviyuk Kane
- George Szirtes
Guest performer at awards ceremony: David White, National Poetry In Voice recitation finalist
2018">2018 in poetry">2018
Canada:- Billy-Ray Belcourt, This Wound is a World
- Aisha Sasha John, I have to live.
- Donato Mancini, Same Diff
- Susan Howe, Debths
- Tongo Eisen-Martin, Heaven is All Goodbyes
- Layli Long Soldier, Whereas
- Natalie Shapero, Hard Child
- Sarah Howe
- Ben Lerner
- Ian Williams
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Hamish Marissen-Clark, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
Guest speaker at awards ceremony: August Kleinzahler, 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize winner
2019">2019 in poetry">2019
Canada:- Eve Joseph, Quarrels
- Dionne Brand, The Blue Clerk
- Sarah Tolmie, The Art of Dying
- Don Mee Choi, translation of Autobiography of Death from the Korean written by Kim Hyesoon
- Raymond Antrobus, The Perseverance
- Daniel Borzutzky, Lake Michigan
- Ani Gjika, translation of Negative Space from the Albanian written by Luljeta Lleshanaku
- Ulrikka S. Gernes
- Kim Maltman
- Srikanth Reddy
Guest performer at awards ceremony: Catricia Hiebert, National Poetry In Voice recitation champion
2020">2020 in poetry">2020
Canada:- Kaie Kellough, Magnetic Equator
- Chantal Gibson, How She Read
- Doyali Islam, heft
- Sarah Riggs, translation of Time from the French written by Etel Adnan
- Abigail Chabitnoy, How to Dress a Fish
- Sharon Olds, Arias
- Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Lima :: Limón
- Paula Meehan
- Kei Miller
- Hoa Nguyen