Griffin Poetry Prize merges, and expands, annual awards

NEW YORK (AP) — One of the world’s most generous poetry awards is both consolidating and expanding. Officials of Canada’s Griffin Poetry Prize announced Thursday that they are combining their international and Canadian honors into a single award, worth $100,000. Griffin also has created a new prize for first-time Canadian poets that includes a six-week residency in Italy. The prize’s founder, businessman/philanthropist Scott Griffin, says the awards were originally in separate categories because he believed Canadian poets needed attention. Now that many Canadian poets “have been recognized in the poetry world, we felt it was time they had to compete on the international stage with everybody else.” Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, a founding Griffin trustee, calls poetry “the crucible of human language.”