Griffin Trust
GRIFFIN POETRY PRIZE
Alice Oswald of Devon, England, won the 2017 International Griffin Poetry Prize for Falling Awake (Norton). Jordan Abel of Vancouver won the Canadian Prize for Injun (Talonbooks). They each received $65,000 Canadian (approximately $49,200). The finalists for the International Prize were Jane Mead of Napa, California, for World of Made and Unmade (Alice James Books); Donald Nicholson-Smith of New York City for his translation from the French of In Praise of Defeat (Archipelago Books) by Moroccan poet Abdellatif Laâbi; and Denise Riley of London for Say Something Back (Picador). The finalists for the Canadian Prize were Hoa Nguyen of Toronto for Violet Energy Ingots (Wave Books) and Sandra Ridley of Ottawa for Silvija (BookThug). They each received $10,000 Canadian (approximately $7,570) and participated in a reading in Toronto. Sue Goyette, Joan Naviyuk Kane, and George Szirtes judged. The annual awards are given for a book of poetry published in the previous year by a living poet or translator from any country, which may include Canada, and for a book of poetry by a living Canadian poet or translator. The next deadline is December 31.