April is National Poetry Month in Canada, and today, the League of Canadian Poets released the shortlists for its annual book awards. Here at The Fiddlehead (where we celebrate poetry year-round) we noticed that many of the shortlisted authors have appeared in our pages recently so we wanted to add our cheers to the general hubbub.
Patrick Lane's Washita and Adam Sol's Complicity were both shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award, which is given to a book of poetry published by a League member in the preceding year. Raymond Souster was a founding member of the League. Three poems by Lane appeared in our special West Coast issue (No. 253, Autumn 2012) and two poems by Sol appeared in No. 258 (Winter 2014).
Two Fiddlehead were also shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, which recognizes the best first book by a Canadian author in the previous year. Gerald Lambert was an arts administrator who took a particular interest in new writers' work. Kerry Lee Powell's book Inheritance and Kayla Czaga's For Your Safety Please Hold On are both on this shortlist. Three poems from Powell appeared in No. 261 (Autumn 2014) and three poems from Czaga appeared in No. 260 (Summer Poetry 2014). Czaga also won The Fiddlehead's Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem last year, which was published in No. 259 (Spring 2014).
And two more Fiddlehead authors were shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award, which is awarded to a book by a Canadian woman and honours Pat Lowther, whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975. Lisa Robertson's Cinema of the Present and Sina Queyras' M x T were both shortlisted for this award. Robertson's long poem "Toxins" appeared in our West Coast issue (No. 253, Autumn 2012) and Queyras had four poems in No. 260 (Summer Poetry 2014). Queyras was also one of the judges for our most recent literary contest. We'll be announcing the winners very soon.
Congrats to all the shortlisted authors!
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