Nhiyawwriter Emily Riddle first ever winner of $10K Canadian First Book Prize for debut poetry collection

Emily Riddle has won the first-everCanadian First Book Prizefor her debut poetry collection The Big Melt.

Thenhiyawwriter who is a memberof the Alexander First Nation (Kipohtakaw) in Treaty Six Territory will receive$10,000 and a six-week residency in Italy, in partnership with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation.

The inaugural prizeisawarded for a Canadian first book of poetryto a Canadian citizen, or permanent resident, for a first book written in English. It was established by the revamped Griffin Poetry Prizeaspart ofits two-decade anniversarycelebration this year.

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Riddle'sThe Big Meltisrooted innhiyawthought and urban millennial life events. It examines what it means to repair kinship, contend with fraught history, go home and contemplate prairie andutopia in the era of late capitalism and climate change.

Part memoir, part research project, thecollection draws on Riddle's experience working in Indigenous governance and her affection for confessional poetry in crafting feminist works that are firmly rooted in place. It is about inheriting a Treaty relationship just as much as it is about breakups, demonstrating that governance is just as much about our interpersonal relationships as it is law and policy.

• The 2023 CBC Poetry Prize is now openfor submissions

This year's winner was selected from a jurycomprised ofCanadian poet Gregory Scofield, American poet Natasha Trethewey and Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov. They each read 58 Canadian First Book Prize entries.

"Emily Riddle's The Big Meltis nhiyaw governance, Cree governance, at its single most personal form of self-autonomy. The governance of heart and history, language and landscape, nhiyaw-askiy, Cree earth/land, is embedded in these warrior-women poems. If there is a trail back to our ancestors and forward to ourselves, these poems call us to be still, and to listen to a new generation of storytellers," thejury said of the winning book of poetry.

Riddle isis the senior advisor of Indigenous relations at the Edmonton Public Library and has been published in various publications such asThe Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, Teen Vogue, The Malahat Reviewand Room Magazine. She received the 2021Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund award and is adedicated Treaty Six descendant who believes deeply in the brilliance of the Prairies and their people.

Riddle had previously made the2020 CBC Poetry Prize shortlistfor Learning to Count.

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Founded in 2000 by Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Scott Griffin, the annual Griffin Poetry Prizepreviously awarded $65,000 to two works of English-language poetry from the previous year one Canadian and one international.

This year,the Griffin Poetry Prize willcombine its existing Canadian and international categories into a single $130,000 award. Itcurrentlystands as the world's largest international prize for a single book of poetry written in, or translated into English.

The 2023 winner will be announced on June 7 at Koerner Hall in Toronto. The gala event will also feature readings from all the finalists before the big reveal.

The shortlisted titles this year are:Exculpatory Liliesby Canadian poet Susan Musgrave,The Thresholdby Egyptian Canadianpoet Iman Mersal,The Hurting Kind bycurrent U.S. poet laureateAda Limn,Best Barbarianby Americanpoet Roger Reeves andTime is a Motherby Vietnamese American poet Ocean Vuong.

• Canadian poets Susan Musgrave, Iman Mersal among finalists for revamped $130K Griffin Poetry Prize

As the recipientof theCanadian First Book Prize, Riddle will be invited to participate in the readings to read fromThe Big Melt.

The recipient of a $25,000 lifetime recognition award will also be announced, bringing the total of the new prize fund to $205,000.