Canadian poetry shortlists

Announcing the Gerald Lampert & Pat Lowther Award Shortlists

April 2, 2012, Toronto: The League of Canadian Poets (LCP) is pleased to announce the shortlist for its 2012 Pat Lowther and Gerald Lampert Memorial Awards. Congratulations to the authors for their fine work and many thanks to the jurors for their hard work on this year’s awards.

Winners of these awards will be announced during a special ceremony at the annual LCP Poetry Fest and Conference to be held at the Park Town Hotel in downtown Saskatoon (924 Spadina Crescent East, Saskatoon, SK) on June 16, 2012.

Gerald Lampert Award Shortlist:

The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award is given in the memory of Gerald Lampert, an arts administrator who organized authors' tours and took a particular interest in the work of new writers. The award recognizes the best first book of poetry published by a Canadian in the preceding year. The award carries a $1,000 prize.

True by Kirsty Elliot (Leaf Press)

Yes. by Rosemary Griebel (Frontenac House Media Ltd.)

Paramita, Little Black by Suzanne Robertson (Guernica Editions)

Do Not Call Me By My Name by Lisa Shatzky (Black Moss Press)

Sweet Devilry by Yi-Mei Tsiang (Oolichan Books)

Gulf by Leslie Vryenhoek (Oolichan Books)

2012 Jury: Ronnie R. Brown, Dennis Cooley, Wendy Morton

Pat Lowther Award Shortlist:

The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is given for a book of poetry by a Canadian woman published in the preceding year, and is in memory of the late Pat Lowther, whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975. The award carries a $1,000 prize.

A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth by Stephanie Bolster (Brick Books)

Small Mechanics by Lorna Crozier (McClelland & Stewart Ltd.)

outskirts by Sue Goyette (Brick Books)

Yes. by Rosemary Griebel (Frontenac House Media Ltd.)

Groundwork by Amanda Jernigan (Biblioasis)

Forge by Jan Zwicky (Gaspereau Press)

2012 Jury: Katherine Bitney, Sarah Klassen, Nela Rio

(See www.poets.ca for complete author bios and book descriptions)

Comments

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

Poetry vs. Literature

Poetry is, of course, a part of literature. But, increasingly, over the 20th century, it has become marginalised - and, famously, has less of an audience than "before". I think that, when one considers the sort of criticism levelled against Seamus Heaney and "mainstream poetry", by poet-critics like Jeffrey Side , one ought to see the wider context for poetry in the "Anglo-Saxon" world. This phrase was used by one of the UK's leading literary cultural figures, in a private conversation recently, when they spoke eloquently about the supremacy of "Anglo-Saxon novels" and their impressive command of narrative. My heart sank as I listened, for what became clear to me, in a flash, is that nothing has changed since Victorian England (for some in the literary establishment). Britain (now allied to America) and the English language with its marvellous fiction machine, still rule the waves. I personally find this an uncomfortable position - but when ...

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

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