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Every year, the Griffin Poetry Prize judges compile a shortlist of up to seven outstanding books of poetry, four International and three Canadian. From the shortlist, the judges select the final winners in the International and Canadian categories. Shortlisted Canadian books are eligible for both prizes.

Learn more about the diverse and eclectic range of poets who have made up the Griffin Poetry Prize shortlists since 2001.

2022 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Sharon Dolin

Late to the House of Words

translated from the Catalan written by
Gemma Gorga
Saturnalia Books
USA
Douglas Kearney

Sho

Wave Books
USA
Ali Kinsella and Dzvinia Orlowsky

Eccentric Days of Hope and Sorrow

translated from the Ukrainian written by
Natalka Bilotserkivets
Lost Horse Press
Ed Roberson

Asked What Has Changed

Wesleyan University Press
USA

Canadian Shortlist

David Bradford

Dream of No One but Myself

Brick Books
Liz Howard

Letters in a Bruised Cosmos

McClelland & Stewart
Canada
Tolu Oloruntoba

The Junta of Happenstance

Palimpsest Press

2021 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Victoria Chang

Obit

Copper Canyon Press
USA
Valzhyna Mort

Music for the Dead and Resurrected

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA Winner
Srikanth Reddy

Underworld Lit

Wave Books
USA
Tracy K. Smith and Changtai Bi

My Name Will Grow Wide Like A Tree

translated from the Chinese written by
Yi Lei
Graywolf Press
USA, China

Canadian Shortlist

Joseph Dandurand

The East Side of It All

Nightwood Editions
Canada
Canisia Lubrin

The Dyzgraphxst

McClelland & Stewart
Canada, St. Lucia Winner
Yusuf Saadi

Pluviophile

Nightwood Editions
Canada

2020 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Abigail Chabitnoy

How to Dress A Fish

Wesleyan University Press
USA
Sharon Olds

Arias

Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Random House/Jonathan Cape
USA
Sarah Riggs

Time

translated from the French written by
Etel Adnan
Nightboat Books
USA Winner
Natalie Scenters-Zapico

Lima :: Limón

Copper Canyon Press
USA, Mexico

Canadian Shortlist

Chantal Gibson

How She Read

Caitlin Press
Canada
Doyali Farah Islam

heft

McClelland & Stewart
Canada
Kaie Kellough

Magnetic Equator

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner

2019 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Raymond Antrobus

The Perseverance

Penned in the Margins
UK
Daniel Borzutzky

Lake Michigan

University of Pittsburgh Press
USA
Don Mee Choi

Autobiography of Death

translated from the Korean written by
Kim Hyesoon
New Directions Publishing
USA, Korea Winner
Ani Gjika

Negative Space

translated from the original written by
Luljeta Lleshanaku
Bloodaxe Books
Albania, USA

Canadian Shortlist

Dionne Brand

The Blue Clerk

Penguin Random House Canada
Canada
Eve Joseph

Quarrels

Anvil Press
Canada Winner
Sarah Tolmie

The Art of Dying

McGill-Queen's University Press
Canada

2018 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Tongo Eisen-Martin

Heaven is All Goodbyes

City Lights Publishers
USA
Susan Howe

Debths

New Directions Publishing
USA Winner
Natalie Shapero

Hard Child

Copper Canyon Press
USA
Layli Long Soldier

Whereas

Graywolf Press
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Billy-Ray Belcourt

This Wound Is a World

Frontenac House
Canada (Driftpile Cree Nation) Winner
Aisha Sasha John

I have to live.

McClelland & Stewart
Canada
Donato Mancini

Same Diff

Talonbooks
Canada

2017 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Jane Mead

World of Made and Unmade

Alice James Books
USA
Donald Nicholson-Smith

In Praise of Defeat

translated from the French written by
Abdellatif Laabi
Archipelago Books
UK, Morocco
Alice Oswald

Falling Awake

Penguin Random House/Jonathan Cape, W. W. Norton & Company
UK Winner
Denise Riley

Say Something Back

Picador Poetry
UK

Canadian Shortlist

Jordan Abel

Injun

Talonbooks
Canada Winner
Hoa Nguyen

Violet Energy Ingots

Wave Books
USA
Sandra Ridley

Silvija

Book*hug Press
Canada

2016 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Norman Dubie

The Quotations of Bone

Copper Canyon Press
USA Winner
Joy Harjo

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings

W. W. Norton & Company
USA
Don Paterson

40 Sonnets

Faber & Faber
UK
Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Heaven

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Per Brask and Patrick Friesen

Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments

translated from the Danish written by
Ulrikka S. Gernes
Brick Books
Canada, Denmark
Liz Howard

Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner
Soraya Peerbaye

Tell: poems for a girlhood

Pedlar Press
Canada

2015 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Eleanor Goodman

Something Crosses My Mind

translated from the Chinese written by
Wang Xiaoni
Zephyr Press
USA, China
Marek Kazmierski

Finite Formulae & Theories of Chance

translated from the Polish written by
Wioletta Grzegorzewska
Arc Publications
Poland
Michael Longley

The Stairwell

Penguin Random House/Jonathan Cape
UK Winner
Spencer Reece

The Road to Emmaus

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Shane Book

Congotronic

House of Anansi
Canada
Jane Munro

Blue Sonoma

Brick Books
Canada Winner
Russell Thornton

The Hundred Lives

Quattro Books
Canada

2014 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Rachael Boast

Pilgrim’s Flower

Picador Poetry
UK
Brenda Hillman

Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire

Wesleyan University Press
USA Winner
Carl Phillips

Silverchest

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA
Mira Rosenthal

Colonies

translated from the Polish written by
Tomasz Rozycki
Zephyr Press
USA, Poland

Canadian Shortlist

Anne Carson

Red Doc>

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner
Sue Goyette

Ocean

Gaspereau Press
Canada
Anne Michaels

Correspondences

McClelland & Stewart
Canada

2013 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Fady Joudah

Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me

translated from the Arabic written by
Ghassan Zaqtan
Yale University Press
USA, Palestine Winner
Jennifer Maiden

Liquid Nitrogen

Giramondo Publishing
Australia
Alan Shapiro

Night of the Republic

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
USA
Brenda Shaughnessy

Our Andromeda

Copper Canyon Press
USA

Canadian Shortlist

David W. McFadden

What's the Score?

Mansfield Press
Canada Winner
James Pollock

Sailing to Babylon

Able Muse Press
Canada
Ian Williams

Personals

Freehand Books/Broadview Press
Canada

2012 Shortlist

International Shortlist

David Harsent

Night

Faber & Faber
UK Winner
Yusef Komunyakaa

The Chameleon Couch: Poems

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA
Sean O'Brien

November

Picador Poetry
UK
Joanna Trzeciak

Sobbing Superpower

translated from the Polish written by
Tadeusz Rózewicz
W. W. Norton & Company
USA, Poland

Canadian Shortlist

Ken Babstock

Methodist Hatchet

House of Anansi
Canada Winner
Phil Hall

Killdeer

Book*hug Press
Canada
Jan Zwicky

Forge

Gaspereau Press
Canada

2011 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Seamus Heaney

Human Chain

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA
Khaled Mattawa

Adonis: Selected Poems

translated from the Arabic written by
Adonis
Yale University Press
USA, Syria
Philip Mosley

The Book of the Snow

translated from the French written by
Francois Jacqmin
Arc Publications
UK, Belgium
Gjertrud Schnackenberg

Heavenly Questions

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA Winner

Canadian Shortlist

Dionne Brand

Ossuaries

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner
Suzanne Buffam

The Irrationalist

House of Anansi
Canada
John Steffler

Lookout

McClelland & Stewart
Canada

2010 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

The Sun-Fish

The Gallery Press
Ireland Winner
John Glenday

Grain

Picador Poetry
UK
Louise Glück

A Village Life

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA
Susan Wicks

Cold Spring in Winter

translated from the French written by
Valérie Rouzeau
Arc Publications
UK, France

Canadian Shortlist

Kate Hall

The Certainty Dream

Coach House Books
Canada
P. K. Page

Coal and Roses

The Porcupine's Quill
Canada
Karen Solie

Pigeon

House of Anansi
Canada Winner

2009 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Mick Imlah

The Lost Leader

Faber & Faber
Derek Mahon

Life on Earth

The Gallery Press
Ireland
C. D. Wright

Rising, Falling, Hovering

Copper Canyon Press
USA Winner
Dean Young

Primitive Mentor

University of Pittsburgh Press
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Kevin Connolly

Revolver

House of Anansi
Canada
Jeramy Dodds

Crabwise to the Hounds

Coach House Books
Canada
A. F. Moritz

The Sentinel

House of Anansi
Canada Winner

2008 Shortlist

International Shortlist

John Ashbery

Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems

HarperCollins/Ecco
USA Winner
Elaine Equi

Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems

Coffee House Press
USA
Clayton Eshleman

The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition

translated from the Spanish written by
Cesar Vallejo
University of California Press
USA, Ireland, Peru
David Harsent

Selected Poems: 1969–2005

Faber & Faber
UK

Canadian Shortlist

Robin Blaser

Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser

University of California Press
Winner
Robert Majzels and Erín Moure

Notebook of Roses and Civilization

translated from the French written by
Nicole Brossard
Coach House Books
Canada
David W. McFadden

Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems

Insomniac Press
Canada

2007 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Paul Farley

Tramp in Flames

Picador Poetry
UK
Rodney Jones

Salvation Blues

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
USA
Frederick Seidel

Ooga-Booga

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA
Charles Wright

Scar Tissue

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA Winner

Canadian Shortlist

Ken Babstock

Airstream Land Yacht

House of Anansi
Canada
Don McKay

Strike/Slip

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner
Priscila Uppal

Ontological Necessities

Exile Editions
Canada

2006 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Kamau Brathwaite

Born to Slow Horses

Wesleyan University Press
USA, Barbados Winner
Michael Hofmann

Ashes for Breakfast

translated from the German written by
Durs Grünbein
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
UK
Michael Palmer

The Company of Moths

New Directions Publishing
USA
Elizabeth Winslow

The War Works Hard

translated from the Arabic written by
Dunya Mikhail
New Directions Publishing
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Phil Hall

An Oak Hunch

Brick Books
Canada
Sylvia Legris

Nerve Squall

Coach House Books
Canada Winner
Erín Moure

Little Theatres

House of Anansi
Canada

2005 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Fanny Howe

On the Ground

Graywolf Press
USA
Michael Symmons Roberts

Corpus

Penguin Random House/Jonathan Cape
UK
Matthew Rohrer

A Green Light

Verse Press
USA
Charles Simic

Selected Poems: 1963-2003

Faber & Faber
USA Winner

Canadian Shortlist

Roo Borson

A Short Journey Upriver Towards Oishida

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner
George Bowering

Changing on the Fly

Raincoast Books
Canada
Don McKay

Camber

McClelland & Stewart
Canada

2004 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Suji Kwock Kim

Notes from the Divided Country

LSU Press
USA
David Kirby

The Ha Ha

LSU Press
USA
August Kleinzahler

The Strange Hours Travelers Keep

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA Winner
Louis Simpson

The Owner of the House

BOA Editions
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Di Brandt

Now You Care

Coach House Books
Canada
Leslie Greentree

go-go dancing for Elvis

Frontenac House
Canada
Anne Simpson

Loop

McClelland & Stewart
Canada Winner

2003 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Kathleen Jamie

Mr and Mrs Scotland are Dead

Bloodaxe Books
UK
Paul Muldoon

Moy Sand and Gravel

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
USA Winner
Gerald Stern

American Sonnets

W. W. Norton & Company
USA
C. D. Wright

Steal Away: Selected & New Poems

Copper Canyon Press
USA

Canadian Shortlist

Margaret Avison

Concrete and Wild Carrot

Brick Books
Canada Winner
Dionne Brand

Thirsty

McClelland & Stewart
Canada
P. K. Page

Planet Earth

The Porcupine's Quill
Canada

2002 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Victor Hernandez Cruz

Maraca

Coffee House Press
USA
Christopher Logue

Homer: War Music

Faber & Faber
UK
Les Murray

Conscious and Verbal

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Australia
Alice Notley

Disobedience

Penguin Books USA
USA Winner

Canadian Shortlist

Christian Bök

Eunoia

Coach House Books
Canada Winner
Erín Moure

Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person

translated from the original written by
Alberto Caeiro and Fernando Pessoa
House of Anansi
Canada, USA
Karen Solie

Short Haul Engine

Brick Books
Canada

2001 Shortlist

International Shortlist

Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld

Open Closed Open

translated from the Hebrew written by
Yehuda Amichai
Harcourt
USA
Fanny Howe

Selected Poems

University of California Press
USA
Les Murray

Learning Human

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Australia
Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh

Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan

translated from the original written by
Paul Celan
Wesleyan University Press
USA Winner

Canadian Shortlist

Robert Bringhurst

Nine Visits to the Mythworld

Douglas & McIntyre
Canada
Anne Carson

Men in the Off Hours

Alfred A. Knopf
Canada Winner
Don McKay

Another Gravity

McClelland & Stewart
Canada