Books by past CBC Poetry Prize winners and finalists being published in 2024
Being a finalist for the CBC Poetry Prize can jumpstart your literary career. Need proof? Here are books that were written by former CBC Poetry Prize winners and finalists that are being published this year.
The 2024 CBC Poetry Prize is open for submissions until June 1, 2024 at 4:59 p.m. ET.
You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems. The submission will be judged as a whole and must be a maximum of 600 words (including titles).
The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and will have their work published on CBC Books.
Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.
The Seventh Town of Ghosts by Faith Arkorful
The Seventh Town of Ghosts explores this titular town through songs that help readers grapple with the challenges of existence and independence. The book offers insight into the power of connection, tenderness and the human spirit.
Faith Arkorful has had her work published in Guts, Peach Mag, Prism International, Hobart, Without/pretend, The Puritan and Canthius. She was a semi-finalist in the 2019 92Y Discovery Contest. Arkorful was born in Toronto, where she still resides.
In 2020, Arkorful was shortlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize for Family Affair.
Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong
Pearly Everlasting is the story of a girl and her domesticated bear during the Great Depression. Pearly must rescue her bear Bruno after he's been kidnapped and sold to an animal trader. Their journey to make their way back home is more than fifty miles and Pearly will have to face what it really means to be family to a bear.
When you can read it: June 25, 2024
Tammy Armstrong has published two novels and five books of poetry. Her collection, Year of the Metal Rabbit, was a finalist for the Atlantic Book Awards' J.M. Abraham Poetry Award and won the inaugural Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award.
Armstrong was longlisted for the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize and had previously made the CBC Poetry Prize longlist in 2017.
Bad Weather Mammals: Poems by Ashley-Elizabeth Best
The poems in Bad Weather Mammals reflect Ashley-Elizabeth Best's own experiences with disability. The poems look back at her childhood, but also her adulthood and even her relationships in her community. The poet explores in a variety of formal constraints both the joys and devastation of living with a disabled body.
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Ashley-Elizabeth Best is a disabled poet and essayist from Kingston, Ont. Her debut collection of poetry, Slow States of Collapse, was published in 2016. Best's chapbook Alignment was published in 2021. That same year, Best was also a contributor for Resistance, a collection of poems curated and edited by Sue Goyette.
Best was on the longlist for the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize.
Death of Persephone: A Murder by Yvonne Blomer
The poems in Death of Persephone explore the myth of Persephone through the character of Stephanie who lives in a more modern setting than her Greek inspiration. With many displacements to the myth, one question remains: who will survive this altered version of the ancient story?
When you can read it: Sept. 17, 2024
Yvonne Blomer is a poet and author. She is the author of the travel memoir Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur and the poetry collection As if a Raven. She edited the anthologies Refugium: Poems for the Pacific and Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds. Blomer served as the city of Victoria's poet laureate from 2015 to 2018.
Blomer was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.
Hard Electric by Michael Blouin
Michael Blouin's poems in Hard Electric are a collection of reflections with a decided slant toward disaster. They are unsettling, not for the faint of heart, but ultimately also life-affirming for the lonely hearted or those who know them well.
When you can read it: Sept. 30, 2024
Michael Blouin is a writer from Ontario. Blouin won the 2020 ReLit Award for his novel Skin House. He previously won the ReLit Award in 2009 for his debut novel Chase and Haven. Hard Electric is his third poetry collection.
Blouin was a finalist for the 2009 CBC Poetry Prize for his poem fidelity which is included in Hard Electric.
Midway by Kayla Czaga
Midway is a poetry collection that explores the writer's grief in the aftermath of her parents' deaths. The poems travel from the underworld to London's Tate Modern in a way that's both comforting and disconcerting.
Kayla Czaga is also the author of For Your Safety Please Hold On and Dunk Tank. For Your Safety Please Hold On won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She lives in Victoria and served as the online poetry mentor for Simon Fraser University's Writer's Studio.
Czaga was on the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize longlist.
Naked Pictures by Paulette Dubé
Naked Pictures is a hybrid poetry collection and field-photojournalism relating the relationship of Jasperite poet Paulette Dubé with the Albertan lands, including everything that happened surrounding the XL Keystone pipeline.
Dubé's poetry and prose has been nominated for the Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award, the CBC Alberta Anthology, the Alberta Writers' Guild Best Novel Award, the Starburst Award, the Exporting Alberta Award and the Fred Kerner Award. She was recently named the writer in residence at the Jasper Municipal Library.
Dubé won second place for the 2005 CBC Poetry Prize.
Monsters, Martyrs, and Marionettes by Adrienne Gruber
In Monsters, Martyrs, and Marionettes, Adrienne Gruber explores the theme of motherhood through a collection of essays. It celebrates bodies, maternal bonds, beauty, but also the uglier side of parenthood, the chaos and even how close we are to death at any given moment.
Gruber is a poet and essayist originally from Saskatoon. She is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Q & A, and five chapbooks. She placed third in Event's creative non-fiction contest in 2020 and was the runner up in SubTerrain's creative nonfiction contest in 2023.
Gruber was on the longlist for the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize. She was also longlisted for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize and for the 2020 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
Keep by Jenny Haysom
The novel Keep is a meditation on all the stuff in our lives. Having been recently diagnosed with dementia, Harriet must sell her beloved house. Enter home stagers Eleanor and Jacob who are hired to remove the clutter, but soon find themselves immersed in Harriet's mysterious world while their own lives are unravelling.
When you can read it: Oct. 1, 2024
Jenny Haysom is a writer from Nova Scotia. Her debut poetry collection, Dividing the Wayside, won the Archibald Lampman Award and was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. She has published her writing in magazines across Canada.
Haysom was longlisted for the 2013 CBC Poetry Prize.
Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr
Isidore "Ezzy" Desjarlais and Grey Ginther live together in Grey's uncle's trailer, passing their time with cribbage and cheap beer. The former is cynical of what she feels is a lazy and performative activist culture, while the latter is simply devoted to her distant cousin. So when Ezzy concocts a scheme to set a herd of bison loose in downtown Edmonton, Grey is along for the ride — a ride in Prairie Edge that has devastating, fatal consequences.
Conor Kerr is a Métis/Ukrainian writer who hails from many prairie towns and cities, including Saskatoon. He now lives in Edmonton. A 2022 CBC Books writer to watch, his previous works include the novels Old Gods and Avenue of Champions, which was longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and won the ReLit award the same year. Kerr currently teaches creative writing at the University of Alberta.
Kerr was on the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist.
Dayboil by Sharon King-Campbell
Dayboil is a kitchen-table comedy centered on four middle-aged women in rural Newfoundland. The play explores the rigidity of gender roles that prevent men from seeking mental help and forces many women to become caretakers.
Sharon King-Campbell is a writer from Ottawa who now lives in St. John's. Her first book was This is How It Is which was published in 2021.
King-Campbell made the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize longlist.
Votive by Annick MacAskill
An exploration of devotion in different forms, Votive is Annick MacAskill's fourth book of poetry.
When you can read it: Fall 2024
MacAskill is the author of three previously published poetry collections, including Shadow Blight, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry in 2022. Her fiction has previously appeared in Canthius and Plenitude. MacAskill lives in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), in Mi'kma'ki, the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq.
MacAskill was longlisted for the 2014 CBC Poetry Prize and more recently longlisted for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize.
Limited Verse by David Martin
Limited Verse is a collection of classic poems with a new twist — they're translated into New English, made up of only 850 words.
David Martin is an author of poetry collections Kink Bands and Tar Swan, which was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award and the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize.
Martin won the CBC Poetry Prize in 2014.
False Bodies by J.R. McConvey
False Bodies follows Eddie Gesner to Newfoundland where he goes to find out more about a mysterious incident that caused mass casualties on an offshore oil rig and is said to be the work of a kraken. Eddie's obsession with monsters forces him to confront this incredible undersea creature.
When you can read it: Oct. 1, 2024
J.R. McConvey is a writer and documentary producer from Toronto. His debut short story collection Different Beasts was published in 2019 and won the 2020 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for speculative fiction. CBC Books named him a writer to watch in 2020.
In 2016, McConvey made the longlist for the CBC Poetry Prize.
Crying Dress by Cassidy McFadzean
Crying Dress is a poetry collection rooted in the tradition of lyric poetry while adopting its own spin and linguistic play that challenges an idea of poetic coherence. It spans various locations and brings together scenes from intimate moments in domestic life to ones featuring the ghosts of Brooklyn.
Cassidy McFadzean is a writer who was raised in Regina and currently lives in Toronto. Her poetry books are Drolleries and Hacker Packer, which won two Saskatchewan Book Awards. She also wrote a crown of sonnets called Third State of Being. She was raised in Regina and currently lives in Toronto.
McFadzean was a finalist for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2013. In 2015, she placed twice on the longlist of the CBC Poetry Prize.
This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake by Nicholas Ruddock, illustrated by Ashley Barron
This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake is a picture book that explores various encounters with animals through 15 poems and illustrations. The book encourages its readers to respond with tenderness when coming across those animals. This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake is for ages 3 and up.
Nicholas Ruddock is a physician and writer who has worked in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon and Ontario. Has had novels, short stories, poetry published since 2002 in Canada, U.K., Ireland and Germany. He is the author of the 2021 novel Last Hummingbird of West Chile.
Ruddock made the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Storm as well as the 2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Hummingbirds. Most recently, Ruddock was shortlisted for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize for his story Marriage.
The Work by Bren Simmers
The poems in The Work explore the themes of loss and grief and how one can make themselves whole again after being broken. From the sudden death of her father, her mother's dementia and her sister-in-law's terminal illness, Simmers' poems show us how healing can come from love.
Bren Simmers is the author of four books, including the wilderness memoir Pivot Point and Hastings-Sunrise, which was a finalist for the Vancouver Book Award as well as a collection of poetry titled If, When.
Simmers won the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize for her poetry collection Spell World Backwards, which is included in The Work. She was previously longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2013 and in 2012 for Science Lessons.
A Blueprint for Survival by Kim Trainor
A Blueprint for Survival is a poetry collection that starts in wildfire season and then explores the forms of resistance and survival in the context of climate change. It examines each of these forms as a blueprint for being in and seeing the world.
Kim Trainor is the author of the poetry collections A thin fire runs through me, Karyotype and Ledi. Her poems have won the Fiddlehead's Ralph Gustafson Prize, the Malahat Review Long Poem Prize and the Great Blue Heron Prize. She lives in Vancouver.
Trainor has a long history with the CBC Literary Prizes: her poem Desolation made the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize longlist. She was also longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2018 for Sweetgum (7 readings of the I Ching), in 2014 for Peredelkino 1956-1960, in 2013 for In Baghdad it is Night and in 2012 for On the gravity of light (10 exposures in the manner of Francesca Woodman). In 2015, she appeared on the CBC Poetry Prize longlist three times for her poetry collections glass, clay, Lascaux, Winter ghazals and You tell me in the summer the light.
Scientific Marvel by Chimwemwe Undi
Scientific Marvel is a poetry collection that looks into the history of and current life in Winnipeg. With humour and surprise, it delves into deeper themes of racism, queerness and colonialism while keeping personal lived experiences close to the page.
Chimwemwe Undi is a Winnipeg-based poet, editor and lawyer. She is the Winnipeg poet laureate for 2023 and 2024. She won the 2022 John Hirsch Emerging Writer Award from the Manitoba Book Awards and her work can be found in Brick, Border Crossings, Canadian Literature and BBC World.
Undi was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.
Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft, and Community by Phoebe Wang
Even though humans have sailed for centuries, when you step on a boat for the first time, the learning curve is steep. Relative to Wind is a collection of essays that recognizes the parallels between sailing and a creative life. The book is structured to help readers apply sailing lessons and techniques to their art, but also their community.
When you can read it: Oct. 15, 2024
Phoebe Wang is an Ottawa-born poet and author. Her debut poetry collection Admission Requirements, which explores stories of the land and searches for a secure sense of belonging, was shortlisted for the 2018 League of Canadian Poets Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.
Wang made the CBC Poetry Prize longlists in 2016, 2013 and 2012.
The Lantern and the Night Moths by Yilin Wang
The Lantern and the Night Moths is a translation of poems by five contemporary and modern Chinese poets, Qiu Jin, Fei Ming, Dai Wangshu, Zhang Qiaohui and Xiao Xi. The poems are translated next to their original text and the book includes essays about the art of poetry translation.
Yilin Wang is a writer, poet and Chinese-English translator. Her fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in Clarkesworld, The Malahat Review, Arc Poetry Magazine, Grain, CV2, carte blanche and The Tyee. She is based in Vancouver.
Wang was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.
Homing: A Quest to Care for Myself and the Earth by Alice Irene Whittaker
Homing is a memoir about the author's experience of abandoning a busy commuter lifestyle to move to a cabin in the woods with her family. The book also touches upon the journey of repairing her fractured relationship with both herself and the natural world.
When you can read it: Sept. 3, 2024
Alice Irene Whittaker is a writer and environmental leader. She is the executive director of Ecology Ottawa and the creator and host of Reseed, a podcast about repairing our relationship to nature. She has been published in national and international publications. Whittaker lives with her family in a cabin in the woods in Québec.
Whittaker has longlisted for all three CBC Literary Prizes. She was on the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize longlist, the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist and was on the longlist of the 2012 CBC Short Story Prize.
