![]() ![]() The prize previously awarded $65,000 to two works of English-language poetry from the previous year - one Canadian and one international. A big change for the Griffin Poetry PrizeĢ023 marked the first time the Griffin Poetry Prize gave out a single award. Other past Canadian winners include Canisia Lubrin, Anne Carson, Roo Borson, Dionne Brand, Billy-Ray Belcourt and Jordan Abel. Tolu Oloruntoba reflects on seeking solace through poetry.Surrey, B.C.-based poet Tolu Oloruntoba was the Canadian winner of the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection The Junta of Happenstance. The Canadian prize helped launch the careers of such rising stars as Billy-Ray Belcourt, Liz Howard and Tolu Oloruntoba, all of whom were recognized for their first collections. Since then, a combination of well-established and up-and-coming poets has won the award. The Griffin Poetry Prize was founded in 2000 by Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Griffin Poetry Prize finalist Susan Musgrave explores life's beauty and sorrow The remaining shortlisted writers will each receive $10,000. poet laureate Ada Limón and Time is a Mother by Vietnamese American poet Ocean Vuong. The other finalists were Exculpatory Lilies by Canadian poet Susan Musgrave, The Threshold by Egyptian Canadian poet Iman Mersal, The Hurting Kind by current U.S. They read 602 books, submitted by 229 publishers from 20 different countries. The jury was comprised of Canadian poet Gregory Scofield, American poet Natasha Trethewey and Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov. Jurors praised Best Barbarian for charting "ruptures and violences enacted across time and space - particularly against Black humanity." He is also the author of the 2013 collection King Me. He frequently referenced his daughter during his readings, and credited her with the inspiration - and some actual lines of poetry - throughout the evening. Reeves currently lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and daughter. Q 12:52 Roger Reeves on how poetry is for everyone Roger Reeves on his 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted poetry collection, Best Barbarian, how anybody can be a poet, and the lesson he learned about art from his daughter. "There's no way that I could ever have imagined that looking at those bookshelves would bring me here, to this." Just look at them,'" Reeves said in the speech. When she was cleaning those houses, he said, she'd tell her grandson to look up at the shelves. In his acceptance speech, Reeves thanked his grandmother, who moved from South Carolina to New Jersey to clean homes, including for some of the first Black women in the United States to get PhDs. But to write, he said, he puts awards and accolades out of his head and thinks only of the work. Reeves is also the recipient of a Whiting Award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. "I think the first thing that I would say is this is always for our people: for our people that had helped us get here." For my people, and for my people over the centuries, people that have fought, that have bled, that have worked, and people that have danced, that have enjoyed," he said in an interview with the Canadian Press after the ceremony. But when they did, he thought of his people. It took a beat for thoughts to return to Reeves after he heard his book's name called out, he said. ![]() When Reeves was named the winner in front of a packed house in Toronto, his head fell to his hands and his mind went blank. It was previously shortlisted for the U.S.'s National Book Award for Poetry and the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection. ![]() The $130,000 prize currently stands as the world's largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English.īest Barbarian is a collection that explores Black life in contemporary America. American poet Roger Reeves has won the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection Best Barbarian.
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