Raúl Zurita

Chilean poet Raúl Zurita has been named the recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, the Griffin Poetry Prize announced on May 6.

The prize, established in 2006, is awarded to international poets. Zurita published a trilogy of books during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, and in 1979, he co-founded the radical artistic collective C.A.D.A., which performed provocative public art as acts of political dissent. He has written more than 20 books of poetry, essays, and criticism.

Zurita and his translator, Anna Deeny Morales, will participate in the 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize Readings in Toronto on June 3. The event will also include readings by the seven poets shortlisted for this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize as well as by the Canadian First Book Prize winner, who will be announced on May 20.

Previous recipients of the award include Margaret Atwood, Derek Walcott, Adélia Prado, Seamus Heaney, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Nicole Brassard.