The League of Canadian Poets has announced the winners of this year’s book awards.
Bertrand Bickersteth is the winner of the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for
The Response of Weeds (NeWest Press). The $2,000 award is given annually to a debut book of poetry. In their citation, jurors DA Lockhart, Nisha Patel, and Phoebe Wang call the book, which explores what it means to be Black and Albertan, “a work of research of a stunning range, occupying a powerful space in Canadian poetry.”
Noor Naga is the winner of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award for her debut novel-in-verse
Washes, Prays (McClelland & Stewart), about a young woman’s affair with a married man and her crisis of faith that follows. The $2,000 award is open to Canadian women. In their citation, jurors Puneet Dutt, Doyali Islam, and Cassidy McFadzean describe Naga’s work as “technically flawless – and thus achingly full of what it means to be human.”
Randell Adjei (photo by Lady Mensah Studios)
For the first time ever, Ontario has a poet laureate.
Scarborough, Ontario, spoken-word artist Randell Adjei was unanimously confirmed to the role by members of provincial parliament on Wednesday.
Adjei, 29, says he feels grateful to have been chosen as the inaugural provincial poet laureate, and hopes that this news brings a bit of light to those who hear it.
“I feel as though there’s something brewing, something happening amidst all of the challenges that we’ve been facing throughout the past year,” he says. “It’s nice to know that there’s some positive news that many of us are hearing at this point in time.”
Santos, who is married with two children and lives in NDG, released his book
Ghost Face in fall of 2020, and it was published by Montreal press DC Books. Itâs his third book in this DC Booksâ collection, but heâs published other smaller collections. Previously published titles include
Blackbirds (2018),
The Emperorâs Sofa (2010).
âGhost Face is a poetic memoir and touches on my background which is of Cambodian descent,â he explained. âI was adopted as an infant. My parents are Canadian, but they were Portuguese and Spanish immigrants themselves, so growing up I very much identified with being Canadian, Portuguese and Spanish, but I didnât know much about my Asian heritage.â
Gavin Barrett’s poetry collection
Understan takes the reader on a beautiful kaleidoscopic journey from Goa, India, throughout the various places he has lived, including Toronto and environs. The poems sojourn with his enduring love for his wife and his love for humanity. The poems in this multifaceted collection celebrate and satirize through lush description.
Understan manifests Barrett’s multiple influences from T.S. Eliot to Arun Kolatkar in poems inspired by family, faith (Catholicism), racism, and social injustice.
Barrett is the founder and co-curator of the east-end Toronto-based Tartan Turban Secret Readings, the focus of which is giving emerging visible minority writers a stage. The name of Barrett’s reading series acknowledges the multiple strands of his identity: born in Bombay (now Mumbai) of Anglo-Indian and Goan-East African parentage, he has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College (in Bombay) and an M.A. in English Literature from Bomb
Jillian Christmas, Bertrand Bickersteth & Ian Williams among finalists for League of Canadian Poets awards
The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, Pat Lowther Memorial Award and Raymond Souster Award, each worth $2,000, celebrate the best in Canadian poetry.
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Posted: Apr 15, 2021 12:33 PM ET | Last Updated: April 15
Jillian Christmas, Bertrand Bickersteth and Ian Williams are among finalists for League of Canadian Poets awards.(K. Ho, NeWest Press, Justin Morris)