Canisia Lubrin, Joseph Dandurand and Yusuf Saadi shortlisted for $65K Griffin Poetry Prize

PoetsCanisia Lubrin, Joseph Dandurand and Yusuf Saadiare the Canadian finalists for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize.

The award annually gives out two $65,000 prizes one to a book of Canadian poetry and one to an international book of poetry making it one of the world's richest prizes of its kind.

Lubrin is nominated forThe Dyzgraphxst.

The Dyzgraphxstis set against the backdrop of contemporary capitalist fascism, nationalism and the climate disaster, where Jejune, the central figure,grapples with understandingtheir existence and identity.

Lubrinis a writer, editor and teacher. She was born in St. Lucia and now lives in Ontario. Her debut poetry collectionVoodoo Hypothesiswas longlisted for the Gerald Lambert Award, the Pat Lowther Award and was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award.

She was recently named a recipient of the2021 Windham-Campbell Prize.

• Canisia Lubrin focused on the self to speak her universal truths in her latest poetry collection

"The Dyzgraphxst is Canisia Lubrin's spectacular feat of architecture called a poem. Built with 'I'a single mark on the page, a voice, a blade, 'a life-force soaring back'and assembled over seven acts addressing language, grammar, sentence, line, stage, and world, the poet forms, invents, surprises, and sharpens life. Generous, generating, and an abundance of rigour. A wide and widening ocean of feeling are the blueprints of this book," the jury said in a statement.

The Next Chapter11:09Canisia Lubrin on The Dyzgraphxst

Rising Canadian literary star Canisia Lubrin talks about her new poetry collection The Dyzgraphxst.

Dandurand is nominated forThe East Side of It All.

Dandurandused to be a druguser who lived in Vancouver's DowntownEastside. He got out and began to heal by reconnecting with his family, the natural world and with hisKwantlenculture and storytelling.The East Side of It Allis a collection of poems that shares this journey.

Dandurandis a poet from the Kwantlen First Nation. His other collections includeThe Rumour,I Will Be CorruptedandSH:LAM (The Doctor).He was theVancouver Public Library's 2019 Indigenous storyteller in residence.

• Joseph Dandurand wanted to tell his story of survival through poetry

"Joseph Dandurand is a poet-storyteller. Portraying Vancouver's Downtown Eastside's prostitutes, heroin addicts, alcoholics and abused, his autobiographical poems could easily drown in the brutality and tragedy they capture but instead they heal. These are deeply moving spiritual invocations, extricated from poisoned air by a fallen angel," the jury said in a statement.

Saadi is nominated forPluviophile.

Pluviophileis a mix of longer sonnets and shorter meditations, all which explore humanity's relationship with divinity and how we value our bodies, our language and how we connect with each other and the greater world.

• The CBC Books Writers to Watch 2020 list

Saadiis a poet from Montreal.Pluviophileis his first collection. He won theMalahat Review's 2016 Far Horizons Award for Poetry for the poemThe Place Words Go to Die, which is inPluviophile.CBC Books named Saadi a writer to watch in 2020.

"'There are whispers in the letters,' writes Yusuf Saadi in poems that search everywhere for mystery, for magic, for beauty. And beauty speaks back, renews itself (and us) in these pages," the jury said in a statement."Pluviophileis a beautiful, refreshing debut."

Four titles are nominated for the international prize.

American poet Victoria Chang is nominated for Obit, BelarusianpoetValzhyna Mort forMusic for the Dead and Resurrected, Indian American poet Srikanth ReddyforUnderworld Lit and American poet Tracy K. Smith andChinese poetry translator Changtai Bi for their translation ofMy Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree byYi Lei.

More than 680 books were submitted for consideration, from 231 publishers from around the world.

The 2021 jury is comprised of Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa, Ukrainian poet Ilya Kaminsky andSlovenian poet Ale teger.

The international and Canadian winners will be announced online on June 23, 2021.

The two winnerswill each be awarded $65,000. The other finalists will each be awarded $10,000.

Montreal poetKaie Kelloughwon last year's Canadian prize for his collectionMagnetic Equator.

• Kaie Kellough plays with words and sound to write vivid poetry and fiction

Last year'sinternational winner wasTimeby Lebanese poet Etel Adnan, translated from French to English by American Sarah Riggs.

Other past Canadian winners include Anne Carson, Roo Borson, Dionne Brand, Billy-Ray Belcourt and Jordan Abel.