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It's Griffin week in the media

Griffin glory is the subject of media coverage this week, with the winners of the annual poetry prize set to be named on Thursday.

Globe and Mail reporter Rebecca Caldwell interviewed this year’s jury on the state of poetry and the challenge of wading through hundreds of titles at once.

On the Maisonneuve site, Zachariah Wells highlights half a dozen Canadian poetry books that he believes were unjustly overlooked by that jury. (He also throws in a bonus mention of Peter Van Toorn’s Mountain Tea, which, being a reissue of a 1984 title, wasn’t actually eligible for the prize; in any case, we’re with him on the excellence of that collection.) In an earlier piece, Wells reviewed this year’s three Canadian nominees, having been impressed only with Di Brandt’s Now You Care.

And in the Toronto Star, Noah Richler sings the praises of Scott Griffin and his prize. And rightly so. Though in the interest of disclosure Richler notes that Griffin sponsor Scott Griffin “is the philanthropist who also owns the House of Anansi, the publishing firm my wife recently joined as president.” With that out of the way, he goes on to recommend Jim Harrison (published by Anansi) and a new Alden Nowlan Selected Poems (published by Anansi). On the other hand, it’s hard to begrudge some attention for Nowlan.

Related links:
The Globe and Mail’s interview with the Griffin jury
Zachariah Wells on what should have been nominated
Zachariah Wells on what was nominated
Noah Richler on poetry and the prize
Q&Q’s profile of Di Brandt (from the June 2004 issue)