The 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the Shortlist

by Souvankham Thammavongsa (Editor)

The prestigious and highly anticipated annual anthology of the best Canadian and international poetry from the shortlist of the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize. Each year, the best books of poetry published in English internationally and in Canada are honoured with the Griffin Poetry Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious and richest literary awards. Since 2001, this annual prize has tremendously spurred interest in and recognition of poetry, focusing worldwide attention on the formidable talent of poets writing in English and works in translation. Annually, The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology features the work of the extraordinary poets shortlisted for the awards and introduces us to some of the finest poems in their collections. Featuring works from shortlisted poets Victoria Chang, Changtai Bi, Joseph Dandurand, Canisia Lubrin, Valzhyna Mort, Srikanth Reddy, Yusuf Saadi, Tracy K. Smith, and Yi Lei.

Genres: Poetry, Canada

120 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2021

About the author

Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry books, and the short story collection HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE, won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and and was New York Times Editors' Choice, out now with McClelland & Stewart (Canada), Little, Brown (U.S.), and Bloomsbury (U.K.). Her stories have won an O. Henry Award and appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Granta, NOON, Journey Prize Stories 2016, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018, and O. Henry Prize Stories 2019. She was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, and was raised and educated in Toronto where she now lives.

Reviews

[Plumb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd already read Obit, and whilst I enjoyed some of the poems in it, as a whole it all wore very thin very quickly. I skipped re-reading them here. I did not care for anything from Mort. Srikanth Reddy was amusing, and a couple of times I laughed out loud, particularly at VI and XVI, which I enjoyed very much. Yi Lei: I liked Furtive and As Clear and Thus as Virtuous as Glass. I enjoyed all the poems by Joseph Dandurand, especially The Sturgeon's Lover. Didn't like Canisia Lubrin. Noise by Yusuf Saadi was quite striking, as was his Phenomenology of Night.

[Kier Scrivener · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are always hard to rate because not every poet will hit the same. This had some strong outings, most noteably Obit by Victoria Chang but theoughout Souvankham Thammavongsa and the other judges choose diverse and distinct voices to tell stories of their own, their culture and others.

CW: death, death of a parent, grief, illness, miscarriage, racism, murder, genocide

[Erin Myler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I’m just not a poetry girlie. There were a couple of poems where I felt something, mostly the ones by Joseph Dandurand. The majority of the poems didn’t affect me and I’ll easily forget that I read these.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

collection of poetry - a range of styles and subjects none that i really loved

[Susan White · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a newcomer to poetry. While I didn't like or even understand all of the poems in this anthology, I appreciated the diversity in themes, style, etc. The snippet of judges' critique introducing each poet was also a nice touch (even if I understood some of them about as much as I understood the corresponding poems). Standouts for me were all of the poems by Joseph Dandurand and Obit by Victoria Chang.