Book Mark: 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize

Canada's richest poetry prize and the world's largest prize for a single poetry collection in English, the Griffin Poetry Prize, was presented on June 1. One national and one international winner recieve $65,000 each plus an additional $10,000 for participating in readings the night before the prize gala.

National Winner: Ossuaries - Dionne Brand



The judges' citiation said that Brand "has constructed a long poem, which is not a traditional seamless epic, nor a Poundian extended collage, but something else that seems quite new."

"Brand’s innovation on Ossuaries calls forth an entirely new sort of reading. The book is a triumph," the judges wrote.

In Ossuaries, a novel-length narrative poem, Brand tells the story of an activist named Yasmine who lives in exile and gets caught up in events such as a violent bank robbery.

International Winner: Heavenly Questions - Gjertrud Schnackenberg