Five books have been shortlisted for the 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize.

The winner of the $130,000 prize will be named on June 3 at the Griffin Poetry Prize Readings in Toronto. The runners-up will each receive $10,000.

The shortlisted titles were selected from a 10-book longlist announced last month.

The shortlisted titles are:

• Death Does Not End at the Sea by Gbenga Adesina (University of Nebraska Press)
• Bodies Found in Various Places by Daniel Borzutzky & Alec Schumacher, translated from the Spanish written by Elvira Hernández (Cardboard House Press)
• Green of All Heads by Aracelis Girmay (BOA Editions)
• Foxglovewise by Ange Mlinko (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Night Watch by Kevin Young (Alfred A. Knopf/Penguin Random House)

The judges for the 2026 prize are Halifax-based poet and academic Luke Hathaway, El Paso, Texas–based poet and creative writing professor Andrea Cote, and Nashville, Tennessee-based poet and academic Major Jackson.

This year’s jury considered 461 books of poetry, including 34 translations from 19 languages, submitted by 219 publishers in 42 different countries.

The Griffin Poetry Prize will announce the Lifetime Recognition Award Recipient on May 6 and the Canadian First Book Prize Winner will be announced on May 20.