Gjertrud Schnackenberg and Dionne Brand Win 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize

Posted on June 6, 2011

The winners of the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize have been announced. The annual prize consists of an International and Canadian winner. $65,000 CDN in prize money is given to each winner. Tim Lilburn (Canada), Colm Toibin (Ireland) and Chase Twichell were this year's judges.

Gjertrud Schnackenberg won the International Prize for her book Heavenly Questions (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Dionne Brand's Ossuaries (McClelland and Stewart) was the Canadian winner.

Here is this year's shortlist:

• Dionne Brand's Ossuaries, (McClelland & Stewart)
• Suzanne Buffam's The Irrationalist (House of Anansi Press)
• John Steffler's Lookout (McClelland & Stewart)
• Seamus Heaney's Human Chain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Khaled Mattawa's translation of Adonis: Selected Poems by Adonis (Yale University Press)
• Philip Mosley's translation of The Book of the Snow by Francois Jacqmin (Arc Publications)
• Gjertrud Schnackenberg's Heavenly Questions (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)