The Lion's Share -- Griffin Poetry Prize Pays Big Money

"The first objective is to make the statement that poetry and poets are just as important as novelists," said Scott Griffin, the founder of the Griffin Poetry Trust, which awards two literary prizes annually for poetry written in English. The prizes are worth C$40,000 each. One will go to a living Canadian poet, the other to a living poet from any country, including Canada. Poets Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003), Bill Manhire (New Zealand’s inaugural poet laureate), and Governor General Award-winner Phyllis Webb (Canada) will judge entries submitted by publishers around the world for the fourth annual event. Last year's winners were Paul Muldoon for Moy Sand and Gravel (FSG) and Margaret Avison for Concrete and Wild Carrot (Brick Books).

Griffin, who is chairman, director, and majority shareholder of General Kinetics Engineering Corporation and Advance Precision Limited, manufacturers of automotive parts, said that the idea for the prize was born at a dinner party he had attended with Michael Ondaatje. "I suggested tentatively the idea of a [major] prize and he wouldn't let me off the hook," said the affable Griffin. "Margaret Atwood got involved and once she takes something on it's a fait accompli. Between Ondaatje and Atwood, they rounded up the rest of the panel of trustees: Robin Robertson, David Young, and Robert Hass.

The trustees developed the first aforementioned objective along with two others. The second is that Griffin Trust should have the "style and tone set by poets for poets and poetry." Hence the composition of the trustees and judges, who are all established authors with the exception of Griffin, who does write, but is unpublished. Griffin wanted no other businessmen as trustees and no corporate sponsorship.

The third objective for the prize is that it be international, which, of course, creates some difficulty given that one of the guidelines for the prize is that the work be written in English. Griffin broached the challenge of judging a book of poetry in translation, mentioning that the way around this was to determine whether the translation could stand on its own. Entries have come from over 20 countries including Slovenia, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, and "pretty well everywhere," said Griffin.

An unofficial fourth objective is to simply "get more people interested in poetry," said Griffin. "It's nice that the [winning] poets receive money. Lord knows most need it, but the real purpose is to get people to buy more poetry. It helps more than just the winner."

The trust had one ingenious idea for bringing more poetry to the people. After the first annual prizes were awarded, there were over one thousand books, which had been submitted for consideration by publishers, to contend with. The trustees decided to donate all the books to the Canadian prison system. There had been virtually no poetry in the prison libraries, said Griffin. Now there are over four thousand volumes of poetry in the system.

Griffin's interest in poetry had an improbable start. His father, who created lighthearted punishments for his sons' various misdemeanors, would penalize them by asking that they memorize and then recite a poem at dinner. Unlike his brothers, he grew to love the frequent "punishment," and mentally recorded a lot of Yeats, Tennyson, Shelley, Keats -- Griffin's father had a penchant for the Romantics.

Griffin continues to read aloud and memorize poetry. "To truly understand the various layers of a poem requires memorization," he explained. "No matter how many times I recite a poem, there's always something else there. It becomes a little bit of you, part of your constellation."

Griffin, who has his pilot's license and has flown his single engine Cessna on transatlantic flights, and who has also crash landed on an island lake in Africa, recites poems during spans of time when he's not monitoring controls. Sometimes flying for 12-hour stretches, he'll recite Dylan Thomas, e e cummings, and Matthew Arnold between navigation calculations and communicating via radio.

The Griffin Poetry Prize has been steadily gaining notoriety. Griffin said it's the biggest poetry event in Canada and has been making headway in Britain. The award ceremony, held in Toronto, lasts for two days with the finalists reading the first night to a crowd of what is expected to be over one thousand this year. On the second night, winners are announced and there's a celebratory dinner, "a lighthearted event, with a meal, dancing, and drinking," as Griffin described it. He added, "Dare I say, poetry is coming back into fashion."

The deadline for the Griffin Poetry Prize is December 31, 2003, for books published between January 1 and December 31, 2003. For more information go to www.griffinpoetryprize.com. The Griffin Poetry Prize 2004 Shortlist will be announced Thursday, April 1, 2004, and the winners will be announced Thursday, June 3, 2004. --Karen Schechner