2021 CBC POETRY PRIZE FINALISTS ANNOUNCED
CBC BOOKS, CBC’s online home for literary content, together with its partners, the Canada Council for the Arts and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, have announced the finalists for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
The finalists are:
- ONION by Mia Anderson (Portneuf, Que.)
- James by Lise Gaston (Vancouver)
- Untranslatable by Adriana Oniță (Edmonton)
- The Morgue in my Tears by Bola Opaleke (Winnipeg)
- Addendum — “Flora of a Small Island in the Salish Sea” by Alison Watt (Nanaimo, B.C.)
The poems were selected from almost 3,000 entries received from across Canada. The public can read the shortlisted poems on cbcbooks.ca. The winner of this year’s prize will be announced on Wednesday, November 24.
The 2021 CBC Poetry Prize jurors are Louise Bernice Halfe, Canisia Lubrin and Steven Heighton.
Louise Bernice Halfe, whose Cree name is Sky Dancer, is Canada's ninth parliamentary poet laureate and served as the first Indigenous poet laureate of Saskatchewan. She was born in Two Hills, Alta., was raised on the Saddle Lake First Nation and attended Blue Quills Residential School. Her poetry collections include Bear Bones & Feathers, Blue Marrow, The Crooked Good and Burning in this Midnight Dream. Her latest poetry collection is awâsis – kinky and disheveled.
Canisia Lubrin is a writer, critic, editor and teacher who was born in St. Lucia and now lives in Ontario. Her first poetry collection, Voodoo Hypothesis, was longlisted for the Gerald Lambert Award and the Pat Lowther Award and was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award. Her second poetry book, The Dyzgraphxst, won the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in the poetry category and is currently a finalist for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize. She was a recipient of the 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize for poetry.
Steven Heighton is a novelist, short story writer and poet from Kingston, Ont. His books include the poetry collection The Waking Comes Late, which won the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, the novel The Nightingale Won't Let You Sleep, the memoir Reaching Mithymna, which was a finalist for the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and his latest book is a collection of poetry, Selected Poems 1983-2020. In 2021 Heighton released his first album, The Devil's Share.
In addition to a cash prize of $6000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Grand Prize winner will receive a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and will be published on the CBC Books website. The four other finalists will each receive $1000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and will be published on CBC Books.
For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, please visit CBC Books.
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About CBC Books
Home to Canada Reads, Writers & Company with Eleanor Wachtel, The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, Canada Writes and the CBC Literary Prizes, CBC Books connects Canadians with books, encouraging a shared love of reading and writing. For book news, writing challenges, reading lists, book recommendations and more, visit cbc.ca/books.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s public arts funder.
The Council’s grants, services, initiatives, prizes, and payments contribute to the vibrancy of a creative and diverse arts and literary scene and support its presence across Canada and abroad. The Council’s investments foster greater engagement in the arts among Canadians and international audiences.
The Council’s Public Lending Right (PLR) program makes annual payments to creators whose works are held in Canadian public libraries.
About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach.
For further information, contact:
Astoria Luzzi, CBC PR
astoria.luzzi@cbc.ca
416-779-6612
Diane Hargrave
Diane Hargrave Public Relations
416-467-9954
