32 writers from across Canada make 2023 CBC Poetry Prize longlist
CBC Books | Posted: November 9, 2023 2:30 PM | Last Updated: November 9, 2023
The winner will receive $6,000, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC Books
Thirty-two writers from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize.
The complete list is:
- The great hypnotist by Ashleigh A. Allen (Toronto)
- restitution OR Nanabush speaks to the settlers by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Neyaashiinigmiing, Ont.)
- A collection of poems by Nasim Asgari (Toronto)
- Spitshine by Britta Badour (Toronto)
- The Patron Saint of Plastics Gets Dressed for a Party at the End of the World by Lisa Baird (Guelph, Ont.)
- other people's clothes by Katie Clarke (Halifax)
- Variations on Genesis by Jillian Clasky (Ottawa)
- Aria Apocalypta by Adebe DeRango-Adem (Toronto)
- I Can Communicate If Communication Is Another Form of Sinking by Jaclyn Desforges (Hamilton, Ont.)
- Things to Do around Ottawa when you're Black by Michael Fraser (Toronto)
- Tyndall Park by Eva Haas (Victoria)
- Nest by Evan J (Winnipeg)
- These are only the names from Manitoba. by Hector Jenkins (Toronto)
- Home Someplace Elsewhere by Nancy Kang (Winnipeg)
- Birch Water Harvest by Lana Kouchnir (Toronto)
- lotus flower blooming into breasts by Kyo Lee (Waterloo, Ont.)
- Brideprice by Catherine Lewis (Vancouver)
- Psychology of Loss and Grief by Karen Loucks (Victoria)
- The Limits by Laura Matwichuk (Vancouver)
- This Story Ends with Nothing Quite Landing on Us by Brad Aaron Modlin (Guelph, Ont.)
- against a backdrop of horror by NASRA (Edmonton)
- The Horse that Dies. The Horse that Lives. by Susan Paddon (Margaree, N.S.)
- Saint-Barthélemy Easter Weekend by Annika Pavlin-Jamal (Montreal)
- Four Poems for Self Care by Natasha Sanders-Kay (Burnaby, B.C.)
- The World Was Ending by Andrea Scott (Victoria)
- banana blossoms by Abhirami Senthilkumaran (Vancouver)
- Forgive Me For What You Did: Poems and Post-Traumatic Ecologies by Raissa Simone (Montreal)
- The Voice Of The River by Shandra Spears Bombay (Rainy River First Nations/Manitou Rapids, Ont.)
- Sweetness | מתיקות by Anna Swanson (Guelph, Ont.)
- After the Storm and Other Poems by Sarah Wolfson (Montreal)
- Josephine, My Love by Patricia Young (Victoria)
- To Curl Under Your Light, Votive-Shaped Liver, The Olive Tree 2,562 Miles Away by Mary Zhu (Vancouver)
The longlist was selected from more than 2,400 submissions. The longlist was selected by a team of writers and editors from across Canada.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is comprised of Joseph A. Dandurand, Catherine Graham and Tolu Oloruntoba.
The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 16 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 23.
The winner of the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a writing residency and 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.
Last year's winner was Charlottetown poet Bren Simmers for her poetry collection Spell World Backwards. You can read the entire 2022 shortlist here.
The longlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed. To read more, go to the Prix de poésie Radio-Canada.
The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. Past winners include Alison Pick, David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje and Carol Shields.
If you're interested in other writing competitions, check out the CBC Literary Prizes. The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January, the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April and the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September.