2 Canadian translators make longlist for $130K Griffin Poetry Prize
The annual prize is the world's largest prize for a single book of poetry
Two Canadian translators have made the longlist for the Griffin Poetry Prize.
George McWhirter is recognized for Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence, which was translated from Spanish, and written by Mexican poet Homero Aridjis.
Emilie Moorhouse is honoured for Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems of Joyce Mansour, which was translated from French, and written by Egyptian-French writer Joyce Mansour.
The $130,000 prize is the world's largest prize for a single book of poetry written in or translated into English.
Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence is a poetry collection that reflects on the past and looks to the future. It describes meetings with mythical animals, family ghosts, writers and Mexico's oppressed to work towards spiritual transformation.
McWhirter is a Vancouver-based poet and translator. His poetry is anthologized in The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse and Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century and he won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his translation of Chinua Achebe's Catalan Poems.
A Syrian Jewish exile from Egypt, Mansour was a surrealist poet whose work received minimal attention when it first emerged in the 1950s. Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems of Joyce Mansour is a collection of her most important pieces, finally awarding them their time in the spotlight. Often featuring her favourite topics of death and unfiltered female desire, this collection reflects raw, uncensored thoughts and communicates timeless frustrations about the world we live in.
Moorhouse is a Montreal-based teacher, writer, translator and environmentalist. She grew up speaking French in Toronto.
The 2024 jury is comprised of Canadian poet A.F. Moritz, German poet Jan Wagner and American poet Anne Waldman. They read 592 books, submitted by 235 publishers from 14 different countries.
The complete longlist includes:
- A Crash Course in Molotov Cocktails by Halyna Kruk, translated from Ukrainian by Amelia M. Glaser and Yuliya Ilchuk
- To 2040 by Jorie Graham
- School of Instructions by Ishion Hutchinson
- Door by Ann Lauterbach
- The Lights by Ben Lerner
- Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence by Homero Aridjis, translated from Spanish by George McWhirter
- Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems of Joyce Mansour by Joyce Mansour, translated from French by Emilie Moorhouse
- perennial fashion presence falling by Fred Moten
- To the Letter by Tomasz Różycki, translated from Polish by Mira Rosenthal
- And And And by Cole Swensen
The five-book shortlist will be announced on April 17, with the winners being announced on June 5 at Koerner Hall in Toronto. The Koerner Hall event will also feature readings from all the finalists before the big reveal.
The remaining shortlisted writers 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.
A $10,000 prize will also 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. A $25,000 lifetime recognition award will also be awarded.
Last year's winner was American poet Roger Reeves for his collection Best Barbarian. Nêhiyaw writer Emily Riddle won the Canadian First Book Prize for her debut poetry collection The Big Melt.
2023 marked the first time the Griffin Poetry Prize gave out a single award. The prize previously awarded $65,000 to two works of English-language poetry from the previous year — one Canadian and one international.
Other past Canadian winners include Tolu Oloruntoba, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Anne Carson, Roo Borson, Dionne Brand and Jordan Abel.
