Louise Bernice Halfe, Canisia Lubrin and Steven Heighton to judge 2021 CBC Poetry Prize

Louise Bernice Halfe, Canisia Lubrin and Steven Heighton willjudge the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.

TheCBC Poetry Prizerecognizes original, unpublished Canadian poetry, up to 600 words in length.

The deadline to submit is May 31, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The winner will receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre for Arts and Creativityand have their work published onCBC Books.

Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

Louise Bernice Halfe, whose Cree name is Sky Dancer,is Canada's ninth parliamentarian poet laureateandserved as the first Indigenous poet laureate of Saskatchewan. She was born in Two Hills, Alta., wasraised on the Saddle Lake First Nation and attended Blue Quills Residential School. Her poetry collections includeBear Bones & Feathers,Blue Marrow,The Crooked GoodandBurning in this Midnight Dream.Her latest poetry collection isawsis kinky and disheveled.

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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 andthe 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 categoryandis currently a finalist for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize. She was a recipient of the2021 Windham-Campbell Prize for poetry.

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Steven Heightonis a novelist, short story writer and poet from Kingston, Ont.His books include the poetry collectionTheWaking Comes Late,which won the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, the novelTheNightingale Won't Let You Sleep, the memoirReaching Mithymna, which was a finalist for the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfictionand his latest book is a collection of poetry,Selected Poems 1983-2020.In 2021 Heighton released hisfirst album,The Devil's Share.

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Submissions are read by a panel of established writers and editors from across the country.The jury will select the shortlist and winner.

Need a little motivation to get you going?Subscribeto theCBCPoetry Prize newsletterhere. We will send you writing tips, tricks and prompts every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday while theCBC Poetry Prizeis open.

• Check out the past CBC Literary Prizes winners

Last year's winner wasMatthew Hollettfor his poemTickling the Scar.

TheCBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979.

Past winners include Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Michael Winter and Frances Itani.

The 2022CBC Short Story Prizewill open in September and the2022CBC Nonfiction Prizewill open inJanuary.