Celebrated Canadian poet Don McKay wins $50,000 Griffin Prize
Last Updated: Thursday, June 7, 2007 | 8:25 AM ET
The Canadian Press
A veteran Canadian author who has twice won the Governor General's award for poetry was one of two recipients of the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize, awarded Wednesday at a lavish ceremony in Toronto.
Canadian Don McKay won for Strike/Slip, his 11th book of poetry, which was lauded by judges as a book of "patience, courage, and quiet eloquence."
The $100,000 award, worth $50,000 each to a Canadian and an international recipient, is among the most lucrative poetry prizes in the world.
American Charles Wright took the international prize for his book of poetry, Scar Tissue. Wright is a prolific poet and professor who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
The audience in Toronto's trendy Distillery District erupted in applause as McKay bounded onstage to receive his award.
The 65-year-old poet, a three-time nominee for the Griffin, called his victory a "deeply moving experience" and spoke to a recurring theme of the night: whether Canadian poetry is being marginalized.
"I don't think that poetry is in any danger, that it runs deep and will always be there. It will survive, with cockroaches, beyond us," he said, eliciting a big laugh from the crowd.
The British Columbia writer is considered Canada's top nature poet.
McKay said the prize will allow him to continue his research and field work, as well as allow him to lend support to charitable causes that work in social and environmental action.
The Griffin Poetry Prize was launched seven years ago by Toronto businessman Scott Griffin and a group of writers including Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, both of whom were present at Wednesday's ceremony.
"We must not allow poetry to slip from the mainstream of our cultural lives. We must put it back into the schools, into the coffee houses, and into our homes," said Griffin in introducing the awards.
In each category, the prize is awarded for the best collection of poetry in English published during the preceding year.
Other Canadians shortlisted for this year's Griffin prize included author Ken Babstock and York University professor Priscila Uppal.
Frederick Seidel, a protégé of Ezra Pound and a founding editor of The Paris Review, was shortlisted in the international category for Ooga-Booga. Britain's Paul Farley was nominated for Tramp in Flames and American poet Rodney Jones was nominated for Salvation Blues.
The judges, John Burnside, Charles Simic and Karen Solie, received a landmark 483 books of poetry, including 18 translations, from 15 countries.
