Two students share 2021 Liberal Arts Brick Books Poetry Prize
星空传媒视频 English Professor and poet Susan Elmslie is pleased to announce that Arwen Lawless Low & Lucie Markus have won this year鈥檚 Liberal Arts Brick Books Poetry Prize.
The prize is awarded to a student in the second-term Liberal Arts poetry class who shows promise in poetry writing, as reflected in work completed in class and in a 鈥渇ormal invitation鈥� to write a sonnet outside of class. A few in the 2021 cohort wrote moving sonnets as well as name poems and pantoums. The sonnet is not the only measure of promise in poetry writing, but it is a significant indicator. Below are the names of the winners, and those who deserve honorable mention for their poems.
Co-winners of the 2021 Liberal Arts Brick Books Poetry Prize:
Arwen Lawless Low for 鈥淚 will never be Anne Carson鈥澛� and Lucie Markus for 鈥淪nowfall in April鈥�
Honorable Mentions:
Nava Camlot for 鈥淯nfinished Work鈥� (sonnet)
Aspen Crick for鈥淢y first pantoum鈥� (pantoum)
Maya Hillcoat for 鈥淟over, I鈥檓 You鈥� (sonnet)
Coco Aranya Usher for 鈥淓very junkie鈥檚 like a settin鈥� sun鈥� (sonnet)
The poems will be published in the forthcoming Liberal Arts Anthology.
For the seventh consecutive year, Canadian poetry publisher, Brick Books, is sponsoring the Liberal Arts Brick Books Poetry Prize. The award is a book prize: the books published by Brick in the previous year, presented with a certificate. The award will be presented when classes resume on campus.
The 2021 prize consists of seven of Brick鈥檚 newest titles, likely including:
- I am the Big Heart, by Sarah Venart
- Burning in This Midnight Dream, by Louise B. Halfe鈥擲ky Dancer
- Tell: Poems for a Girlhood, by Soraya聽Peerbaye
- Moldovan Hotel, by Leah Horlick
- Grey all Over, by Andrea Actis
Founded by Stan Dragland and Don McKay in 1975, 鈥淏rick is the only press in Canada that specializes in publishing poetry books. The mandate of Brick Books is to foster interesting and compelling work by Canadian poets and translators of poetry, both new and established; to create and maintain the exceptional editorial standard for which Brick has gained a national reputation; to produce beautifully designed, attractive books worthy of the excellence of their contents; and to distribute and promote these books and their authors. [They typically] publish seven new books and an average of nine reprints every year鈥� (www.brickbooks.ca).
Kitty Lewis, formerly General Manager at Brick Books, was with the outfit for over twenty-five years and sponsored the Liberal Arts Brick Books Poetry Prize. Kitty worked steadily to bring some of Canada鈥檚 best poetry to students and educators, making Brick Books 鈥測our one-stop educational resource for Canadian Poetry,鈥� featuring poetry podcasts, ebooks, maps, and study guides.鈥� Kitty also sent free poetry books to two cohorts of Liberal Arts students at Dawson. Brenda Leifso, also a Brick poet (Wild Madder, 2020), is Brick Book鈥檚 new manager, and sent the books out for this year鈥檚 prize.
Susan Elmslie (BA, MA Western; PhD McGill) was a student of Stan Dragland and Don McKay at Western University, studying Canadian Literature and Creative Writing, her joint areas of specialization. Susan鈥檚 I, Nadja, and Other Poems, which won the A.M. Klein Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for three other awards, was published by Brick in 2006. Her Museum of Kindness was published by Brick in 2017, and was shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Poetry Prize, the聽Pat Lowther聽Memorial聽Award and a ReLit Award. Susan has been a juror for the Quebec Writers鈥� Federation鈥檚 A.M. Klein Poetry Prize and the Irving Layton Award for Poetry (Concordia U). Last year she was a judge for the Montreal International Poetry Prize.
-Submitted by Susan Elmslie (Faculty, English)
