Canisia Lubrin’s poetry collection The Dyzgraphxst was announced the winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize 2021 today, June 23, 2021.
The Griffin Poetry Prize is the world’s largest international prize for a first-edition single collection of poetry written in or translated into English. The Canadian-based prize was founded by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin in 2000. There are two geographical categories with one for a Canadian poet and one international poet who writes in the English language. Some previous winners have been Anne Carson, Nikolai Popov, and Kamau Brathwaite.
The 2021 edition of the prize was judged by Ilya Kaminsky (Ukraine), Aleš Šteger (Slovenia), and Souvankham Thammavongsa (Canada) who each read 682 books of poetry, including 55 translations from 28 languages, submitted by 231 publishers from 14 different countries.
The shortlist announced on April 14 featured Canisia Lubrin’s poetry collection The Dyzgraphxst in the Canadian poetry section. Lubrin is a writer, editor, and teacher who has been published and anthologised internationally, including translations of her work into Italian and Spanish. Lubrin’s debut poetry collection, Voodoo Hypothesis, was named a CBC Best Poetry Book, longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award. Her work has been nominated for, among others, the Toronto Book Award, Journey Prize, and bpNichol Chapbook Award. 2019 Writer in Residence at Queen’s University, Lubrin holds an MFA from the University of Guelph.
Canisia Lubrin like the other winner will be awarded C$65,000.
Leave a Reply