Griffin Poetry Prize

09/04/2026

📚 Publishers: a reminder about the next deadline for the 2027 Griffin Poetry Prize.

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/CDedyzI.

We look forward to receiving your entries!

09/03/2026

to the 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize Readings, where Melody Ovuakporoyecha, a Poetry in Voice / Les voix de la poésie finalist, joined us onstage to recite “I Am” by Nigerian-Canadian poet Titilope Sonuga.

Our connection with Poetry in Voice extends far beyond the stage. We’re proud that the Griffin Trust continues to support Poets in Class, helping bring poets into classrooms across Canada and creating opportunities for young people to encounter poetry as something living, spoken, shared, and enjoyed.

As a new school year begins, Poetry in Voice’s 2026–2027 Poets in Class applications are now open to primary and secondary school teachers across Canada, including first-year CEGEP teachers in Quebec. Visit poetryinvoice.ca for more information.

Photos: Alyssa K. Faoro

09/02/2026

“I try to write every day but I don’t always succeed. Sometimes I just stare at the wall but this seems to be an important part of the process for a reason I fail to understand.”

This week’s comes from Griffin Poetry Prize-shortlisted poet Kate Hall, whose debut collection, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 (Coach House Books), was shortlisted for the 2010 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize.

The tip is from a 2015 conversation between Patrick Connolly and Kate Hall, published in Nineteen Questions. You can read the full interview here: https://buff.ly/Z1tfZz5

Do you try to write every day? Is "doing nothing" a part of your process? Let us know in the comments!

Discover more about Kate Hall on our website.

08/31/2026

Our is by Canadian poet Kate Hall, excerpted from her 2010 Griffin Poetry Prize-shortlisted collection, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 (Coach House Books).

The judges praised this debut collection for its wit, its resistance to earnestness, and the exhilarating sense that, as we read, we are “amidst an actual process of thought.”

📚 Read the full poem on our website: https://buff.ly/Q9M1LAF

Artist: Łucia
Title: 07.29.26 at 20:07

08/27/2026

“I think poetry is hope for that which has no hope.”

We invite you to watch this extraordinary bilingual conversation between Raúl Zurita, our 2026 Lifetime Recognition Award recipient, and Pádraig Ó Tuama (), interpreted by Anna Deeny Morales ().

Now available on our YouTube channel.

What stayed with you from the conversation? Share your favourite moment in the comments.

We are grateful to the amazing teams who made it possible for this conversation to unfold across three cities: in Washington, D.C.; Yale Broadcast Studio in New Haven; Universidad Diego Portales – Facultad de Comunicación y Letras in Santiago; and The Project.

Special thanks to DMV Productions for the sound recording, editing, and mix, and to everyone behind the scenes who helped bring Raúl, Pádraig, and Anna together across distance.

08/26/2026

"Poetry comes before language, before writing, before the printing press, before computers, before artificial intelligence—but as long as one person suffers on this earth, poetry will remain the art of the future."

Tune in now on our YouTube channel as Chilean poet Raúl Zurita, our 2026 Lifetime Recognition Award recipient, joins Pádraig Ó Tuama for a special conversation, with interpretation by Anna Deeny Morales: https://buff.ly/qkDPWLT

✨ Save the date! Next week, Raúl Zurita, our 2026 Lifetime Recognit...

08/26/2026

“I think it's fine to challenge the reader, to make them work, and to reward their perseverance with good writing; yet, at the same time, you must be fair to your reader and ensure that the writing is engaging on at least a rudimentary level. Not all writing, especially not all poetry, makes sense on an intellectual plane on the first read through. But you need to provide something for the reader to cling to, whether it's a concrete image, a metaphor, a strong emotion, or even rhythms and vocabulary that lets the reader get word-drunk.”

This week’s comes from Griffin Poetry Prize-shortlisted poet Yusuf Saadi, author of 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 (Nightwood Editions), shortlisted for the 2021 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize.

The tip is excerpted from “Synesthetic Language: Samantha Ainsworth in Conversation with Yusuf Saadi,” published by The Malahat Review. Read the full interview: https://buff.ly/znZ8Ggb

How do you challenge your reader while still giving them something to cling to? Share with us in the comments!

Discover more about Yusuf Saadi on our website.

08/24/2026

Aletheia, Clouding, Semogembee, Vastity.

Poet Yusuf Saadi delights with his “Road Trip Dictionary,” from his debut collection, 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 (Nightwood Editions), shortlisted for the 2021 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize for “poems that search everywhere for mystery, for magic, for beauty,” as the judges wrote.

📚 Read the full poem on our website: https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poem/road-trip-dictionary-saadi/

Saadi's work has appeared in The Malahat Review, Vallum Poetry, Brick, A Literary Journal, Best Canadian Poetry, Canadian Notes & Queries, Arc Poetry Magazine, CV2 magazine, Grain Magazine - the Journal of Eclectic Writing, The Ex-Puritan, PRISM international, and Prairie Fire Magazine, among others. He holds an MA from the University of Victoria and lives in Montreal.

Have you read Pluviophile? Tell us your favourite poem from the collection.

Artist: Łucia
Title: 08.07.26 at 20:09

08/21/2026

✨ Save the date! Raúl Zurita, our 2026 Lifetime Recognition Award recipient, joins Pádraig Ó Tuama for a special conversation, with interpretation by translator Anna Deeny Morales.

📺 Watch the live premiere on Wednesday, August 26, at 12:00 PM ET on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/8OFcpK-YHEY

🎙️ Raúl Zurita (b. Santiago de Chile, 1950) is one of Latin America’s most celebrated poets. Arrested and tortured following the 1973 military coup, he went on to publish the landmark trilogy 𝙋𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮, 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚, and 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚, and co-founded the radical artistic collective C.A.D.A.

🎙️ Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and host of On Being’s 𝙋𝙤𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙. His work explores language, violence, power, religion, and belonging, and he has published poetry, essays, memoir, and theology. His recent books include the poetry collection 𝙆𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙃𝙮𝙢𝙣𝙨 and the anthology 44 𝙋𝙤𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝘽𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙀𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙊𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧: 𝘼 𝙋𝙤𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙐𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

🎙️ Anna Deeny Morales is a writer, translator, librettist, and scholar whose translations include works by Raúl Zurita, Gabriela Mistral, Alejandra Pizarnik, Mercedes Roffé, and Nicanor Parra. She has translated and edited several volumes of Zurita’s poetry, including 𝙎𝙠𝙮 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙬: 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨, 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙆𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙬𝙖, and 𝙋𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮.

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