Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist Revealed

The 2012 shortlist for the Griffin Poetry Prize has been announced!

Judges Heather McHugh (USA), David O'Meara (Canada) and Fiona Sampson (England) scoured 481 books of poetry, from 37 countries, including 19 translations to compile the shortlist.

Canadian Shortlist

• Methodist Hatchet (Anansi) by Ken Babstock
• Killdeer (BookThug) by Phil Hall
• Forge (Gaspereau Press) by Jan Zwicky

International Shortlist

• Night (Faber and Faber) by David Harsent
• The Chameleon Couch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Yusef Komunyakaa
• November (Picador) by Sean O'Brien
• Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Rózewicz (W.W. Norton & Company) by Joanna Trzeciak, translated from the Polish written by Tadeusz Rózewicz

The seven finalists will be invited to read in Toronto at Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. They will each be awarded $10,000 for their participation in the Shortlist Readings.

The winners, announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening on Thursday, June 7, 2012, will each be awarded $65,000.