Brathwaite, Legris Awarded Poetry Prize

Last night at a gala dinner attended by some of the brightest lights in international poetry, Canadian Sylvia Legris and Barbadian Kamau Braithwaite were awarded the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize. Considered to be one of the richest prizes in poetry, the Griffin Prize was established in 2000 by Canadian car magnate Scott Griffin, along with writers that included Margaret Atwood. Each year, the Griffin Trust awards $100,000 to a Canadian and an international poet. Griffin established the prize through the Griffin Trust after attending a dinner with writer Michael Ondaatje and playwright David Young, where the three discussed the state of poetry in the world and concluded that something had to be done to bring poetry back to center stage in people”s lives. Young referred to poetry as an “invisible art”

This year, Legris and Braithwaite topped the list of 441 entrants for the literary prize. Legris won for her book Nerve Squall, published by Coach House Books, and Braithwaite for Slow Horses, from Wesleyan University Press. Each of the winners takes home a prize of $50,000.

Other books that made the short list for the award included:

Phil Hall, An Oak Hunch
Erin Moore, Little theatres
Durs Grunbein, Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems
Michael Palmer, Company of Moths
Dunya Mikhail, The War Works Hard