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Lee wins the $6,000 grand prize for her poem, lotus flower blooming into breasts
CBC Books, CBC’s online home for literary content, together with its partner the Canada Council for the Arts, today announced Kyo Lee of Waterloo, Ont. as the winner of the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize. Lee’s poem, lotus flower blooming into breasts, was selected from more than 2,400 entries.
As the grand-prize winner, Lee will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a writing residency and their work has been published on CBC Books.
The 2023 CBC Poetry Prize jurors Joseph A. Dandurand, Catherine Graham and Tolu Oloruntoba, said this about Lee’s poem:
"In lotus flower blooming into breasts, the speaker holds hope, love, conflict, desire, defiance, history and the present, violence and wistfulness and the ways humans fail each other, in a shimmering tension that does not collapse into sentimentality. Documentary in nature, the tercets that constitute this poem offer confrontational and speculative flourishes that flare like 'burns blooming' beside ponds 'overflowing with hunger.' The efficiency of each line and the balletic twinge of each successive stanza are effective vehicles for admirable feats of craft and reader transport."
Kyo Lee said, "I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. Winning the prize is not something that I ever imagined happening.”
The four runners-up for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize, who will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, are: Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm of Neyaashiinigmiing, Ont. for restitution OR Nanabush speaks to the settlers; Jillian Clasky of Ottawa for Variations on Genesis; Jaclyn Desforges of Hamilton, Ont. for I Can Communicate If Communication Is Another Form of Sinking; and Anna Swanson of Guelph, Ont. for Sweetness | מתיקות.
The winner of the Prix de poésie Radio-Canada 2023 will be unveiled Friday, Nov. 24 at the Salon du livre de Montréal. More information is available at ICI.Radio-canada.ca/icionlit.
For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, please visit CBCBooks.ca.
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About CBC Books
Home to Canada Reads, Writers & Company, The Next Chapter, 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 CBCBooks.ca.
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, with a mandate to "foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
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.
For further information, contact:
Frances Bedford, CBC PR
frances.bedford@cbc.ca
416-205-7673
Diane Hargrave
DHPR Communications Inc.
dhprbks@interlog.com
416-467-9954
