Tuxedo Court by Kayal Vizhi

Kayal Vizhi has made the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Tuxedo Court.

• 31 writers make the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist

The winner of the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 18 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 24.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the CBC Poetry Prize opens in April.

About Kayal Vizhi

Kayal Vizhi is a writer and poet born and raised in South India and Sri Lanka. She is currently residing in Toronto. Her short story Fat with Love was published in Room Magazine and her nonfiction story Salt was shortlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2015. Vizhi has shared her poetry in various storytelling forums in Canada and the United States. Vizhi is currently working on a collection of lyric essays.

Entry in five-ish words

"Examining the question of home."

The poem's source of inspiration

"Migration"

First lines

in toronto, i comb the streets for a folktale,
a dark woman smacking her lips, pulling 

mango hair out of her teeth, tamil songs 
on the radio blueing the noon hour.

ma hums in the kitchen while pa reads 
the newspaper and i wonder, is this home.

About the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize

The winner of the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. The 2022 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.