Griffin Poetry Prize announces 2023 judges and a new combined $130K prize for Canadian & international poets

In a major change, the Griffin Poetry Prize announced today that it has combined its existing Canadian and international categories into a single $130,000 award.

Founded in 2000 by Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Scott Griffin, the annual prize previously awarded $65,000 to two works of English-language poetry from the previous year — one Canadian and one international.

The Griffin Poetry Prize said it now represents the world's largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English. The other shortlisted poets in the new single category will each receive $10,000. 

In the event a winning book is a translation into English, the Griffin Poetry Prize will allocate 60 per cent of the prize to the translator and 40 per cent to the original poet. 

In addition, a new $10,000 prize will be awarded for a Canadian first book of poetry. The award is a six-week residency in Italy in partnership with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation to a Canadian citizen, or permanent resident, for a first book written in English. 

"The Griffin Poetry Prize has been acknowledging and encouraging poets for 22 years. At a time when censorship and attacks on a diverse array of writers are on the rise in many countries — including the United States — it's heartening to see such a strong vote of confidence in poets coming from Canada. Poetry is not a minor art form; it is the crucible of human language," said Canadian author Margaret Atwood, who is a founding trustee for the award.

The Lifetime Recognition Award will continue to be awarded by the trustees in the sum of $25,000, bringing the total of the new prize fund to $205,000. 

The change for the prize program was designed to emphasize the international nature of poetry, the importance of translations and the fact that previous Canadian winners such as Ann Carson, Robert Bringhurst and Karen Solie are names that are recognized all over the world, said Scott Griffin, founder of the prize, in an interview with CBC Books. 

If you look at the other arts — be it music, painting or dance — Canadians can and should operate on the international stage. The same applies to poetry, he added.

"I suspect there will be some pushback on the fact that the prizes are being merged. This is actually a step forward — Canadians should be proud that they're competing now along with every other country." 

The Griffin Poetry Prize also announced its 2023 judges: Canadian poet Gregory Scofield, American poet and author Natasha Trethewey and Macedonian poet, editor and translator Nikola Madzirov.

Scofield is a Métis poet and author. He was the 2016 recipient of the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize, given to an accomplished mid-career poet. His poetry collections include Love Medicine and One Song and 2017's Witness, I Am, a meditation on missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Listen | Gregory Scofield on The Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter13:36Gregory Scofield on Thunder Through My Veins

The Metis poet and non-fiction writer Gregory Scofield on his memoir Thunder Through My Veins, which has been reissued 20 years after its original publication.

Natasha Trethewey is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and two-time poet laureate of the United States. She has written six acclaimed collections of poetry, including Thrall and Monument, and her latest book is a work of nonfiction called Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir. 

Listen | Natasha Trethewey on Writers and Company:

Writers and Company1:01:53Natasha Trethewey's Memorial Drive is a moving tribute to her mother's life

The Pulitzer Prize-winner talked to Eleanor Wachtel about Memorial Drive, her memoir that engages with the trauma of her mother's murder by an abusive ex-husband. Warning: this interview includes details of violence.

Madzirov is a recipient of the Hubert Burda European Poetry Award and the Miladinov Brothers poetry prize. His poetry books include Relocated Stone and Remnants of Another Age.

The judges are chosen by the Griffin Poetry Prize trustees, whose current board comprises Mark Doty, Carolyn Forché,  Sarah Howe, Paul Muldoon, Karen Solie, Aleš Šteger and Ian Williams. 

A new longlist of 10 books will be announced in March 2023. The shortlist of five books will be announced in April 2023, with the winners announced at the awards gala in Toronto on June 7, 2023. 

Surrey, B.C.-based poet Tolu Oloruntoba was the Canadian winner of the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection The Junta of Happenstance, while the international winner was American poet Douglas Kearney for Sho, a poetry book that was a 2021 U.S. National Book Award finalist.

• Tolu Oloruntoba reflects on seeking solace through poetry

Other past Canadian winners include Canisia Lubrin, Anne Carson, Roo Borson, Dionne Brand, Billy-Ray Belcourt and Jordan Abel.