Field Notes by Sharon King-Campbell

2020 CBC Poetry Prize longlist

Image | Sharon King-Campbell

Caption: Sharon King-Campbell is a writer, theatre artist and storyteller from St. John’s. (Ashley Harding Photography)

Sharon King-Campbell has made the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Field Notes.
The winner of the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link), have their work published on CBC Books(external link) and have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity(external link). Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link) and have their work published on CBC Books(external link).
The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 5 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 12.

About Sharon King-Campbell

Sharon King-Campbell is a writer, theatre artist and storyteller. Her writing has appeared in Riddle Fence, WORD and on stages across Newfoundland and Labrador. She holds a BFA in theatre and a Master's degree in creative writing from Memorial University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in English. She was a winner in both the 2019 and 2020 Arts & Letters Awards, and won the 2017 Rhonda Payne Award in recognition of her theatre work. Her first book of poetry, This Is How It Is, will be published in 2021.

Entry in five-ish words

"Nature is bigger than humanity."

The poems' source of inspiration

"I recently took a literary theory course alongside a poetry course. I was introduced to 'ecocriticism' in theory and it leaked into my poetry homework. Since then, it has leaked into almost everything in my life."

First lines

Field Notes
On the fusion of horizons, we find
ourselves blinded by the possible
rising, full of fire, white light refracted
like a peacock's tail. Materiality
spreads a spectrum of energies,
frenetic reds and lazy violets encoded
on our retinas, the texture of linoleum
or beach stone. The peacock tells his own
story. So does the stone. The power of
narrative infused in barren signs.

About the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize

The winner of the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link), have their work published on CBC Books(external link) and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity(external link). Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link) and have their work published on CBC Books(external link).
The 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. The 2021 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.