Griffin Poetry Prize

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The prize is for a first-edition collection, written in, or translated into English, and published during the preceding year.

The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry supports poetry through several initiatives, focusing on the annual Griffin Poetry Prize, the world’s largest international poetry prize. The prize goes to a living poet or translator from any country, which may include Canada. Judges are selected annually by the trustees, and the prize is awarded in the spring of each year.

10/31/2026

Family ghosts. Unquiet graves. A shadow gone missing. Revenge. These poem-hauntings ask what the dead leave behind, and what refuses to stay buried.

Read them on our website under Poem of the Week: https://buff.ly/AFi8bMR

✨ “Inhumation” by Kathleen Jamie, from 𝙈𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙧𝙨 𝙎𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙, Bloodaxe Books
2003 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist

✨ “Family Ghosts” by Abigail Chabitnoy, from 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖 𝙁𝙞𝙨𝙝, Wesleyan University Press
2020 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist

✨ “Farther / Father” by Sandra Ridley, from 𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙟𝙖, Book*hug Press
2017 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist

✨ “Haunted Sonnet” by Hoa Nguyen, from 𝙑𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙀𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙨, Wave Books
2017 Griffin Poetry Prize Finalist

10/30/2026

📚 Discover Canadian winning and shortlisted books in translation!

Thanks to the passion and work of translators and publishers around the world, these Canadian collections are finding new readers in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish, and Swedish.

Swipe to explore translations of books by Billy-Ray Belcourt, Dionne Brand, Anne Carson, Sue Goyette, Liz Howard, Kaie Kellough, and Erín Moure, and meet the translators and presses who bring these poems into other languages.

Billy-Ray Belcourt
Sue Goyette
Liz Howard
Kaie Kellough
Erín Moure
Vicky Bernard
Stéphane Martelly

Mishka Lavigne
Maria Reimondez
Georgette LeBlanc

Albert Bonniers Förlag
Editorial Pre-Textos
ellerströms förlag
L'Arche - Éditeur & Agence théâtrale
Éditions du Noroît
Letraversal Poesía
Uitgeverij Koppernik
Groupe Nota bene
Biblion Edizioni
não (edições)
Trilce Ediciones
Albert Bonniers Förlag
S. Fischer Verlage
Editorial Galaxia

Which would you add to your reading list? 🌎

10/29/2026

Earlier this month, past Griffin Poetry Prize finalists, winners, and trustees gathered at the Newcastle Poetry Festival to share their poetry. Here are a few snippets from the , featuring:

✨ Sarah Howe — Griffin trustee and author of 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙅𝙖𝙙𝙚, winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize, and the recently published 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙨, shortlisted for several major prizes

✨ Aleš Šteger — Griffin trustee, Slovenian poet and prose writer whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages

✨ Carolyn Forché — Griffin trustee, acclaimed poet and editor whose landmark anthology 𝘼𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 𝙏𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙝-𝘾𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙋𝙤𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 helped shape the field

✨ Rachael Boast — British poet, editor, disability advocate, and 2014 Griffin Poetry Prize finalist for 𝙋𝙞𝙡𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙢’𝙨 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

✨ Roger Reeves — American poet and essayist; winner of the 2023 Griffin Poetry Prize and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for 𝘽𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣

Photos: Phyllis Cristopher Photography Phyllis Christopher

Carolyn Forché Sarah Howe Aleš Šteger

10/28/2026

“Lean into your obsessions and see where they lead. You’ll either write your way out of it to something new or into undiscovered corners you didn’t expect. And if you feel like you’re not writing, or can’t, read. Poetry is an art of attention, so no time or experience is really wasted if you’re present—even if you don’t land where you expected.”

This week’s writing tip is from award-winning poet Abigail Chabitnoy (). She is a Koniag descendant and member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak, Alaska. Her collection 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖 𝙁𝙞𝙨𝙝 () was shortlisted for the 2020 Griffin Poetry Prize. She is a mentor for the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA in Creative Writing and an assistant professor at UMass Amherst.

This excerpt is from her interview with Emily Harnden from Colorado State as part of their Creative Writing series. You can read this wonderful interview on their website: https://buff.ly/DrVYANj

10/27/2026

Our is “Family Ghosts” by Abigail Chabitnoy, from 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖 𝙁𝙞𝙨𝙝 (Wesleyan University Press), a finalist for the 2020 Griffin Poetry Prize.

The judges called this collection “an act of remythologizing and personal re-collection," and "bringing languagelessness into language."

Read the full poem and explore more of Abigail Chabitnoy's work on our website: https://buff.ly/ieAu0xV

Artist: Łucia
Title: 24.10.26 at 00:47

10/23/2026

📚 Calling all poets: From individual poems to full-length manuscripts, here are five poetry contests accepting submissions this November and December, four of which are judged by past Griffin Poetry Prize finalists.

✨ Jennifer A. Lurie Memorial Poetry Prize ($750 USD) — Nov. 14
Outskirts Literary Journal | Judge: Natalie Shapero

✨ McNally Robinson Poetry Award ($1,250 CAD) — Nov. 30
McNally Robinson Booksellers & Prairie Fire Magazine | Judge: Patrick Friesen

✨ Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry ($1,000 USD + publication) — Dec. 1
African Poetry Book Fund | Judge: Aracelis Girmay

✨ Ralph Gustafson Prize ($2,000 CAD) — Dec. 1
The Fiddlehead: Atlantic Canada's International Literary Journal | Judges: Farah Ghafoor, Fawn Parker, Patricia Young

✨ The Moth Poetry Prize (€6,000) — Dec. 31
The Moth | Judge: Diane Seuss

📅 Find these opportunities and more on our : https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poetrycalendar/

10/22/2026

to Sandra Ridley and Erin Soros nine years ago, at the Griffin Poetry Prize Readings.

Sandra was shortlisted that year for 𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙟𝙖. Since then, her collection 𝙑𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙣 has won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, the Archibald Lampman Award, and the Ottawa Book Award. Erin’s fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have continued to earn recognition, including a 2026 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award nomination for “You Have to Live Long and Be Happy.”

Photo: Tom Sandler

10/22/2026

“A poem is a beautifully monstrous form.”
—Sandra Ridley

We revisit 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize finalist Sandra Ridley’s reflections on form: the geometry of a line, the page as a musical score, the ways breath (and breathlessness) can shape a poem.

Ridley was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize for 𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙟𝙖 (Book*hug Press).

Swipe through for five reflections on form, drawn from her essays and interviews.

10/21/2026

“Getting a sense of the place informing a poem or larger project is a vital part of the process for me. The physical environment shapes a poem. It creates an atmosphere. Each place is a nexus for ecology, history, politics, socio-cultural relations, etc. Nothing exists in isolation. When you start to research or write about one element of a place (or idea), what surfaces is an abundance of connections, or trajectories, regarding content. It also generates new ideas and directions that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered."

This week’s is from award-winning Canadian poet, instructor, and editor, Sandra Ridley. She is the author of five collections of poetry including 𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙟𝙖 (), which was shortlisted for the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her other honours include the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, the Archibald Lampman Award, the bpNichol Chapbook Award, the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, and the Toronto International Festival of Authors’ Battle of the Bards.

This enriching writing tip is from her interview with Room Magazine (). You can read the full conversation on their website: https://buff.ly/BcvK0Ob

10/19/2026

We look forward to receiving your submissions! The deadline for 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙥𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 for books published between July 1 and December 31, 2026 is Friday, December 18, 2026.

Please also note our new submissions address. All books and completed Entry Forms should be mailed or couriered to:

Antonia LaMantia
Submissions Manager
Griffin Poetry Prize
128 Sterling Road, Lower Level
Toronto, Ontario M6R 2B7
Canada

📩 [email protected]

For complete eligibility requirements, rules, and the Entry Form, please visit https://buff.ly/HWICWaA.

Please note: Entries must come from publishers only.

Address

Oakville, ON
L6M1A8

Telephone

+19056180420

Website

http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/

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