The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry announces Nicole Brossard as its 2019 Lifetime Recognition Award Recipient

TORONTO – Wednesday, April 24, 2019 – French Canadian poet, essayist, and novelist Nicole Brossard will be honoured with The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry’s Lifetime Recognition Award at the 2019 Griffin Poetry Prize Shortlist Readings on June 5, 2019. Nicole will be attending the events in Toronto and will read briefly on June 5, and at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards Evening on June 6, 2019. As part of the award, Brossard will receive $20,000 (Cdn).

Nicole Brossard was born in Montréal in 1943. Twice Governor General’s Award winner for her poetry, she has published more than thirty books since 1965. Many have been translated into English: Mauve Desert, The Aerial Letter, Picture Theory, Lovhers, Baroque at Dawn, The Blue Books, Installations, Museum of Bone and Water, Fluid Arguments, Notebook of roses and civilization and White Piano. She has co-founded and co-directed the literary magazine La Barre du Jour (1965-1975), co-directed the film Some American Feminists (1976), and co-edited the acclaimed Anthologie de la poésie des femmes au Québec (1991 and 2003).

She is an officer of the Order of Canada, chevalière of the National Order of Quebec, and a member of l’Académie des lettres du Québec. She has twice won the Trois-Rivières International Poetry Festival Grand Prix Québecor (1989 and 1999). In 1991 she was awarded le Prix Athanase-David (the highest literary recognition in Québec). Her work has been widely translated into English and Spanish and is also available in many other languages, including German, Italian, Japanese, Slovenian, Romanian, Norwegian, Catalan, and Portuguese. Two anthologies of her work in English have appeared: Selections: the poetry of Nicole Brossard (2010) and Mobility of Light (2009), with another planned for publication in 2020.

Nicole has been awarded le Prix international de la littérature francophone Benjamin Fondane, le Prix du CIÉF for International Francophone Studies, the W.O. Mitchell Prize, and the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize. In 2015, she was included in the dictionary Le Petit Robert des noms propres. In 2018, she was the recipient of the first Violet Prize awarded by the Blue Metropolis Festival. Mauve Desert has been presented as a multidisciplinary creation in 2018 and is slated for an opera adaptation in 2020-21.

In 2019, an anthology of her poetry in Portuguese and a translation of Mauve Desert in Catalan will be published. Her most recent book in English is an art chapbook titled A Cappella with illustrations by Mauricio Corteletti, translated by Erín Moure and Robert Majzels.

Nicole Brossard writes and lives in Montréal, Canada.

About The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry
Lifetime Recognition Award

The trustees first presented the Lifetime Recognition Award to pay tribute to the work and achievements of international artists working in poetry. Past recipients are: Robin Blaser (Canada) 2006; Tomas Tranströmer (Sweden) 2007; Ko Un (South Korea) 2008; Hans Magnus Enzensberger (Germany) 2009; Adrienne Rich (USA) 2010; Yves Bonnefoy (France) 2011; Seamus Heaney (Northern Ireland) 2012; Adelia Prado (Brazil) 2014; Derek Walcott (St. Lucia) 2015; Adam Zagajewski (Poland) 2016; Frank Bidart (USA) 2017, and Ana Blandiana (Romania) 2018.

About The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry
The Griffin Trust was founded in April 2000 by Chairman Scott Griffin, along with Trustees Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, and David Young. In 2004 Carolyn Forché was named a Trustee and joined the list of internationally acclaimed writers who sit on the board of the Griffin Trust. In 2014, Karen Solie, Colm Tóibín and Mark Doty were named Trustees, followed by Jo Shapcott and Marek Kazmierski in 2016, and Ian Williams in 2018. Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and Colm Tóibín have assumed the roles of Trustees Emeriti.

For further information, please contact:

Media Inquiries:
Melissa Shirley
Tel: (647) 389 9510
Email: publicity@griffinpoetryprize.com

General Inquiries:
Ruth Smith
Executive Director
Tel: (905) 618 0420
Email: info@griffinpoetryprize.com

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