OVERLAND MAGAZINE JUDITH WRIGHT POETRY PRIZE for NEW and EMERGING POETS

In 2007, Overland and the Malcolm Robertson Foundation joined forces to create the Overland Magazine Judith Wright Prize for New and Emerging Poets.

We are pleased to announce that in 2008 the prize money has been increased to $3000, with two minor prizes of $500.

Eligible poets are those who have not yet had a collection of their work commercially published (that is, by a publishing house with commercial distribution). A maximum of three unpublished poems is allowed per entrant. The poems will be judged by Overland’s poetry editor, Keri Glastonbury. The winning poem will be published in the magazine.

Entries, with entry form, should be sent to:

‘Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize’
VU–Footscray Park
PO Box 14428
MELBOURNE VIC 8001

by Friday 7 November 2008.
Winners will be announced in Overland 194, March 2009.
More information is available at www.overland.org.au
This prize is made possible by the support of the Malcolm Robertson Foundation.

Gary Snyder wins Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

CHICAGO, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- Poet Gary Snyder is the winner of the 2008 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Established in 1986 and presented annually by the Poetry Foundation, the award is one of the most prestigious given to American poets, and at $100,000 it is one of the nation's largest literary awards. Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine and chair of the selection committee, made the announcement today. The prize will be presented at an evening ceremony at the Arts Club of Chicago on Thursday, May 29.

In announcing the award, Wiman said: "Gary Snyder is in essence a contemporary devotional poet, though he is not devoted to any one god or way of being so much as to Being itself. His poetry is a testament to the sacredness of the natural world and our relation to it, and a prophecy of what we stand to lose if we forget that relation."

Short lists announced for $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prizes

The Canadian Press
Published Saturday April 12th, 2008

TORONTO - Simon Fraser University professor emeritus Robin Blaser, considered to be one of North America's most outstanding poets of the postwar period, is in the running for the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Now in its eighth year, the prize awards $50,000 to the best book of Canadian poetry and $50,000 to the best book of international poetry published in English the preceding year.

Blaser made the Canadian short list, announced this week in Toronto, for The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser (University of California Press).

Montreal writer Robert Majzels and Calgary-born poet Erin Moure made the list for their English translation of Notebook of Roses and Civilization (Coach House Books). The book is by Montreal poet and novelist Nicole Brossard.

Rounding out the Canadian short list is Toronto author David McFadden for Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden (Insomniac Press/4 a.m. Books).

Four books are on the international shortlist: Notes From the Air: Selected Later Poems from John Ashbery (HarperCollins Publishers/Ecco); Elaine Equi's Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems (Coffee House Press); The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition, by Clayton Eshleman, translated from the Spanish, written by Cesar Vallejo (University of California Press); and Selected Poems 1969-2005 from David Harsent (Faber and Faber).