TORONTO, September 21, 2005 – Griffin Poetry Prize Trustees have selected a set of judges for 2006 that reflects the Griffin Trust’s stature as a major international poetry prize.
All three judges – Lavinia Greenlaw (UK), Lisa Robertson (Canada) and Eliot Weinberger (USA) – have experience and qualifications that reach far beyond their countries of origin.
Eliot Weinberger, who lives in New York City, has written extensive translations of Chinese poetry including 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, Unlock (translation of the exiled poet Bei Dao) and an edition of The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry. As well, Weinberger has translated works of Octavio Paz: Collected Poems 1957-1987, In Light of India, and Sunstone. Other translations include Vicente Huidobro’s Altazor, Xavier Villaurrutia’s Nostalgia for Death and Jorge Luis Borge’s Seven Nights and Selected Non-Fictions.
Weinberger is a curator of the Berlin International Literature Festival, and has been awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the Government of Mexico for promotion of Hispanic literature.
Lavinia Greenlaw lives in London, but has written poetry and novels published in the Netherlands, USA, Germany and France. Greenlaw has written librettos for opera (Ian Wilson’s Hamelin and Richard Baker’s Slow passage, low prospect) and made documentaries on the Arctic and the Baltic for the BBC. She teaches at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Lisa Robertson was born in Toronto and lives in France. Robertson’s books Debbie: An Epic, The Weather, and Rousseau’s Boat and Occasional Works and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture have received critical acclaim and been nominated for a number of prizes including the Governor-General’s Award for Poetry.
Robertson has been awarded fellowships by the University of Cambridge and served as a visiting poet/lecturer at the University of California – Berkeley, Capilano College, Dartington College and American University of Paris.
All three judges understand the importance of the Griffin Poetry Prize’s international reach and will consequently ‘call in’ books of English poetry from around the world.
Submissions are accepted up until December 31, 2005. The shortlisted books (4 International and 3 Canadian) will be announced on April 5, 2006.
For further information, contact:
Ruth Smith, Manager
E-mail: info@griffinpoetryprize.com