Gjertrud Schnackenberg and Dionne Brand received the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize, which, at $65,000 (Canadian) for each winner, is the largest prize in the world for a single book of poetry written in English. Seven other finalists received C$10,000 each, and all finalists and winners participated in readings attended by about 1,000 people on the eve of the award presentation.

Featured in Photo, Left-to-right: Dionne Brand,
Scott Griffin (of the Griffin Trust), Gjertrud Schnackenberg

Schnackenberg’s book, Heavenly Questions, won the International category. “Reading this book is like reading the ocean,” said the Griffin Prize judges, “(it) demands that we come face to face with matters of mortal importance, and it does so in a wildly original music that is passionate, transporting, and heart-rending.”

Brand, a novelist and recent poet laureate of Toronto, won the Canadian category for her book, Ossuaries. “(Brand) has constructed a long poem, which is not a traditional seamless epic, nor a Poundian extended collage, but something else that seems quite new,” said the judges.

Tim Lilburn of Canada, Colm Toibin of Ireland, and Chase Twichell of the U.S. made up the panel of judges. Among the finalists were Seamus Heaney (for Human Chain), Khaled Mattawa (for his translation, Adonis: Selected Poems), and Suzanne Buffman (for The Irrationalist).

While the Griffin Prize continues to offer the largest sum for a poetry book contest, the inaugural Montreal International Poetry Prize contends with its award of $50,000 for a single poem. The Montreal Prize will accept submissions at http://montrealprize.com/ until July 8, 2011.