Griffin Prize Shortlist Announced, Including Debut Poet Liz Howard

The 2016 Griffin Prize shortlists were announced today, with nominees announced for both the international and Canadian prizes. The Canadian shortlist is particularly interesting, featuring both a book in translation and a debut collection.

The $65,000 awards will be presented on June 2, 2016. There will also be a reading featuring all the nominated authors on June 1, at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

The 2016 Griffin Prize International Shortlist

• Norman Dubie for The Quotations of Bone (Copper Canyon Press)
• Joy Harjo for Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (W.W. Norton & Company)
• Don Paterson for 40 Sonnets (Faber & Faber)
• Rowan Ricardo Phillips for Heaven (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The 2016 Griffin Prize Canadian Shortlist

• Ulrikka S. Gernes and translators Per Brask and Patrick Friesen for Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments (Brick Books)
• Liz Howard for Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent (McClelland & Stewart)
• Soraya Peerbaye for Tell: poems for a girlhood (Pedlar Press)

The jury this year consists of British poet Alice Oswald, American poet Tracy K. Smith and Canada’s own Adam Sol. The jurors read over 600 books of poetry while selecting the shortlist, from over 40 countries.

You can get to know finalist Ulrikka S. Gernes here on Open Book: check out her Proust Questionnaire, and stay tuned to Open Book for more book award news!