>Doug - you were going to post the news about the Griffin, did you think
>better of it? I have the anthology here and have started to look at it (I
>cant make judgements very fast but I am very interested by the range of
>work in there...... plus of course I readily admit my bias)


Well, Liz

that would be last year's.

Here's the news on this year's"

Sorry I wasn't sure, 7 also thought I had:

>THE GRIFFIN TRUST
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>For Excellence In Poetry
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>Trustees:
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>Margaret Atwood
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>Scott Griffin
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>Robert Hass
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>Michael Ondaatje
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>Robin Robertson
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>David Young
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>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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>ALICE NOTLEY S DISOBEDIENCE AND CHRISTIAN BÖK S EUNOIA
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>WIN THE 2002 GRIFFIN POETRY PRIZE
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>TORONTO, May 30, 2002 The International and Canadian winners of the 2002
>Griffin Poetry Prize are Alice Notley s Disobedience, and Christian Bök s
>Eunoia, it was announced tonight at the second annual awards event. The
>C$80,000 award, one of the most lucrative poetry prizes in the world, is
>divided between the two winners. This year s prize is for first edition
>books of poetry published in 2001.
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>Hosted by Scott Griffin, Chairman of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In
>Poetry, and Emceed by actor Albert Schultz, the ceremonies featured this
>year s judges, poets Robert Creeley (USA), Dionne Brand (Canada) and
>Michael Hofmann (UK).
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>In addition, it was announced that the two winners have been invited to
>read at this year s Edinburgh International Book Festival on August 24th
>by Festival Director Catherine Lockerbie.
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>Among the 300 guests celebrating the awards were poets, poetry publishers
>and other literary luminaries including the Griffin Poetry Prize Trustees,
>Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, David Young and Robin Robertson who
>flew in from the UK for the festivities.
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>The poetic ambiance of the evening was enhanced by the décor a picturesque
>sylvan glade of spring flowers and greenery, transforming The Berkeley
>Church into an environment reminiscent of Wordsworth s The Daffodils.
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>The evening before the seven shortlisted poets gave a reading at a
>sold-out Special Harbourfront Reading Series Event. In addition to Eunoia
>and Disobedience, the Canadian shortlist runners-up are Sheep s Vigil by a
>Fervent Person by Eirin Moure, and Short Haul Engine by Karen Solie. On
>the International shortlist are Maraca New and Selected Poems 1965-2000 by
>Victor Hernández Cruz, Homer: War Music by Christopher Logue, and
>Conscious and Verbal by Les Murray, his second year on the Griffin Poetry
>Prize shortlist.
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>The Griffin Trust was created to serve and encourage excellence in poetry
>written in English anywhere in the world. Eligible collections of poetry,
>which includes translations, must be submitted by publishers in the
>calendar year of their publication.
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>CITATIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES
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>Book:Poet:Publisher:
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>Citation: Disobedience stands in ambush at the virtual co-ordinates of our
>post-modern inferno. Against decorous poetry , Alice Notley s verse has a
>caustic swish, the intimacy of a vivisectionist on the contemporary body
>politic. Disobedience does what only the best poetry can do in times like
>these, surprise, denounce, dissent.
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>Alice Notley is the author of more than 20 books of poetry including The
>Descent of Alette (1996) and Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin,
>1998). She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and winner of the Los
>Angeles Times Book Award for Poetry. In the spring of 2001 she received
>an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the
>Poetry Society of America s Shelly Memorial Award. She edited and wrote a
>new introduction to her late husband Ted Berrigan s The Sonnets (Penguin,
>2000). After leading a peripatetic life during the late 60s and early
>70s, she settled in New York, where, for 16 years, she was an important
>force in the eclectic second generation of the so-called New York school
>of poetry. She currently lives in Paris, France.
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>Book: Eunoia
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>Poet: Christian Bök
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>Publishers:
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>Citation: As we are told at the outset, Eunoia, which means beautiful
>thinking , is the shortest English word to contain all five vowels. Here
>each speaks with persistent, unequivocal voice, all puns indeed intended.
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>Christian Bök s Eunoia is a phenomenal success story by Canadian
>standards. He is the author of the acclaimed Crystallography (Coach House
>Press, 1994), a pataphysical encyclopedia nominated for the Gerald Lampert
>Award for Best Poetic Debut. is forthcoming from Northwestern University
>Press. Bök s conceptual artwork has appeared at the Marianne Boesky
>Gallery in New York City as part of the Poetry Plastique exhibit. He has
>also created artificial languages for the TV shows, Gene Roddenberry s
>Earth: Final Conflict and Peter Benchley s Amazon. Bök has also earned
>many accolades for his virtuoso performances of sound poetry (particularly
>the Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters).
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>For further information contact Prudence Emery:
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>Tel: (905) 565 5993 or
>Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]

Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm

        the heart in its cage stands up
        desiring fine instruments

                        Michele Leggott