In honour of World Poetry Day, March 21, 2018, The League of Canadian Poets has announced, for the first time, longlists for the 2018 Poetry Awards, including the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Raymond Souster Award.
Sarah de Leeuw, President of the League of Canadian Poets’ National Council (and a BC poet herself) said, “this year, the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month in Canada, we are beyond excited to announce the finalists for our annual book awards… in longlists – for the first time ever!” View all three longlists here.
We at Read Local BC are especially excited to see a number of BC poets and BC publishers on the list—which we’ve highlighted below. Congratulations to all of the finalists and their publishers, and the jurors for their hard work.
Gerald Lampert Memorial Award
The award recognizes a first book of poetry published by a Canadian writer in the preceding year.
- Thin Air of the Knowable by Wendy Donowa (Brick Books)
- The Divining Pool by Amanda Merritt (Wundor Editions)
- Otolith by Emily Nilsen (Goose Lane Editions)
- The Panic Room by Rebecca Păpucaru (Nightwood Editions)
- The Rules of the Kingdom by Julie Paul (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
- Better Nature by Fenn Stewart (BookThug)
- Fragments, Desire by Onjana Yawnghwe (Oolichan Books)
Pat Lowther Memorial Award
Open to Canadian women, this prize is in memory of the late Pat Lowther, whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975.
- Linger Still by Aislinn Hunter (Gaspereau Press)
- Otolith by Emily Nilsen (Goose Lane Editions)
- Dear Ghost by Catherine Owen (Wolsak & Wynn)
Raymond Souster Award
- Thin Air of the Knowable by Wendy Donowa (Brick Books)
- Cloud Physics by Karen Enns (University of Regina Press)
- Slow War by Benjamin Hertwig (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
- Trailer Park Elegy by Cornelia Hoogland (Harbour Publishing)
The shortlists for all categories, including the Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for Spoken Word, will be revealed on Monday, April 30. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto at the Canadian Writers’ Summit in Toronto on Saturday, June 16, 2018.