Billy-Ray Belcourt Wins the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize
On 7 June 2018, 2018 Foundation scholar Billy-Ray Belcourt received the $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection of poems, This Wound is a World, becoming the youngest winner in the prize’s history. Blending the codes of love song, elegy, prayer, and manifesto, Billy-Ray’s poetry evokes the intimacy and violence of Indigenous embodied experiences in Canada. In its citation, the Griffin Trust judging panel praised the collection of poems as a “politically necessary” meditation on queerness, Indigeneity, rebellion, and survival. Congratulations, Billy-Ray!
Learn about the Griffin Poetry Prize and read an excerpt of Billy’s collection of poems here. Order This Wound is a World in paperback here.