NEW YORK (AP) — One of the world’s most generous poetry prizes is getting stronger and bigger. Canadian officials…
NEW YORK (AP) — One of the world’s most generous poetry prizes is getting stronger and bigger.
Officials of the Griffin Canadian Poetry Prize announced Thursday that they are combining their international and Canadian honors into one prize, worth $100,000. The prize’s founder, businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin, said the prizes were originally in separate categories because he believed Canadian poets needed attention.
“Now that many Canadians have gained recognition in the world of poetry, we felt it was time for them to compete on the international stage with everyone else,” he said, citing Canadian writers such as Margaret Atwood, Anne Carson and Robert Bringhurst.
Griffin officials also created a new prize for emerging Canadian poets that includes a six-week residency in Italy.
“The Griffin Poetry Prize has been recognizing and encouraging poets for 22 years,” said Atwood, Griffin’s founding director, in a statement. “At a time when censorship and attacks on a wide range of writers are increasing in many countries, including the United States, it is heartening to see such a vote of confidence in poets coming from Canada. Poetry is not a minor art form; it is the crucible of human language.
Previous Griffin winners are Carson, Charles Simic and John Ashbery.
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