Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize becomes country’s newest literary award
April 22, 2014, Toronto – The Writers’ Trust of Canada is thrilled to announce the creation of the Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize, an annual award in recognition of a Canadian writer’s exceptional body of work. The prize, which is sponsored by the Latner Family Foundation and administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, will be presented alongside five other prizes for excellence in Canadian literature at the annual Writers’ Trust Awards in November. The winner will receive $25,000.
The Writers’ Trust has assembled a three-member jury consisting of Stephanie Bolster, an award-winning poet and coordinator of the creative writing program at Concordia University in Montreal; Lorna Crozier, an award-winning author of 16 books of poetry who is based in North Saanich, BC; and Fred Wah, formerly Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate and current Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary.
“We know that the financial rewards to poets can rarely match the joys their work brings to so many readers, and that work's importance to our national literary culture,” said Steven Latner. “Through this partnership with the Writers’ Trust, the Latner Family Foundation is honoured to invest in the future health of one of Canada’s most vital art forms.”
“The Writers’ Trust now has a portfolio of ten prizes to reward Canada’s exceptional writers at all stages of their careers,” said Mary Osborne, executive director of the Writers’ Trust of Canada. “We are delighted that today, with the support of the Latner Family Foundation, we are able to round out our awards program with a prize to recognize Canada’s finest poets for their contributions to our country’s literary culture.”
The $25,000 Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize will be awarded once a year to a Canadian poet in mid-career in recognition of a remarkable body of work and in hope of future contributions to Canadian poetry. For the purposes of this prize, mid-career is defined as having published at least three collections of poetry that demonstrate outstanding mastery in the art of poetry. No age restrictions apply. Recipients must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. There is no submission process for the prize.
The Writers’ Trust administers three existing body of work awards. They are: the Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award, for a body of work that is predominantly fiction, the Writers’ Trust Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, and the Writers’ Trust Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life.
The winners of these, plus the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Writers’ Trust/McClelland and Stewart Journey Prize, the Writers’ Trust Distinguished Contribution Award, and the inaugural Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards on November 4, 2014.
About the Latner Family Foundation
Founded in 1972 by Albert and the late Temmy Latner, the Latner Family Foundation has been providing support to health care, education, social development, and the arts in the Greater Toronto Area.
About the Writers’ Trust
The Writers’ Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that seeks to advance, nurture, and celebrate Canadian writers and writing through a portfolio of programs, including literary awards, financial grants, scholarships, and a writers’ retreat. Writers’ Trust programming is designed to champion excellence in Canadian writing, to improve the status of writers, and to create connections between writers and readers. Canada’s writers receive more financial support from the Writers’ Trust than from any other non-governmental organization or foundation in the country.
See the link to the original press release here.
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