The Griffin Poetry Prize is one of the world’s most generous poetry awards. As of 2023, the prize is worth C$130,000, making it the world’s largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English. The other shortlisted poets each receive C$10,000.
The 2024 Griffin Poetry Prize Longlist of 10 books was announced on March 20. The Shortlist of 5 books will be announced on April 17, to coincide with National Poetry Month. The winner will be announced live on June 5, 2024 at the Griffin Poetry Prize Readings in Toronto, which will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
Additionally, the Canadian First Book Prize winner will be announced on May 29, 2024, and will receive a C$10,000 prize, along with a six-week residency in Italy in partnership with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation.
“Poetry is the essence of language, and language covers the full range of experience and emotion that distinguishes us as human beings. Poetry has been a form of nuanced and higher-level communication since the beginning of civilization.
While we may pay lip service to the importance of poetry throughout history, the tendency for most of us is to take its importance—in this technological age—for granted, fewer of us read it, purchase it, or recite it. Poets will always write poetry, but poetry needs an audience in order for it to survive as a central part of the mainstream in our cultural lives.
I have my father to thank for his enduring love of poetry. He used to read it to us children after dinner: Browning, Macaulay, Eliot, and others from a long list of his favourites. His passion developed my life-long love affair and concern for poetry, evolving into the Griffin Poetry Prize.
The objective of the prize is to raise the profile of poets and poetry in Canada, and internationally, for works written in, or translated into, English. To achieve this, we invite the shortlisted poets annually to Toronto for an event, which entails the poets reading their poetry to an audience of over a thousand poetry enthusiasts, and the presentation of prizes.
The Griffin Poetry Prize was founded in April 2000 by Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, David Young, and myself. The current trustees are: Mark Doty, Carolyn Forché, Scott Griffin, Sarah Howe, Paul Muldoon, Karen Solie, Aleš Šteger, and Ian Williams.”
—Scott Griffin
In November 2010, Scott Griffin announced a new Griffin Trust initiative called Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie, a bilingual recitation contest for high school students across Canada.
The Griffin Trust has championed other initiatives since its inception, including a statue in tribute to poet Al Purdy, participation in international poetry festivals, and donations of poetry books to various organizations, including the Correctional Service of Canada, Scottish Poetry Library, Slave Lake Public Library (which was destroyed in a wildfire in 2011) and other libraries, schools and colleges.