Laisha Rosnau Wins the Latner Griffin Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize!

We're thrilled to announce that Laisha Rosnau, the author of poetry collections Notes on Leaving, Lousy Explorers, Pluck and Our Familiar Hunger (all published with Nightwood Editions), has won the Latner Griffin Writers' Trust Poetry Prize. The $60,000 prize is awarded annually to a Canadian poet in mid-career who has published at least three collections of poetry that demonstrate mastery of the art. Rosnau was selected by a three-member, independent judging panel comprised of Madhur Anand, Joseph Dandurand (Nightwood author and the 2022 winner of the Latner Griffin Poetry Prize) and Dina Del Bucchia.

About Rosnau's work, the judges write:

“With incisive descriptions, steady rhythms, and imaginative leaps, Laisha Rosnau’s work shows us the flaws and fragility of being human. Her expansive body of work addresses personal and global issues in language sometimes woven delicately, and other times with necessary force… Lines like: ‘We live in a world saturated by symbolism. Sometimes it is best to be direct’ remind us of the power of poetry to be clear-eyed and insistent on the injustices and atrocities of our past, which are still with us in the present moment.”

Rosnau has won numerous awards for her poetry, including the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (BC Book Prize) and the Kobzar Book Award. She is the Executive Director of the Caetani Cultural Centre, teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia and, alongside her family, is caretaker of the Bishop Wild Bird Sanctuary in British Columbia. She lives in Coldstream, BC.

The Latner Griffin Poetry Prize is sponsored by the Latner Family Foundation and Scott Griffin.