The League of Canadian Poets is thrilled to announce the 2020 Book Awards longlists for the Gerald Lampert and Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Raymond Souster Award.

April 20, 2020: Read the 2020 Book Awards Shortlist Announcement

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2020 GERALD LAMPERT MEMORIAL AWARD LONGLIST

Awarded annually since 1981, the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award is given in the memory of Gerald Lampert, an arts administrator who organized author tours and took a particular interest in the work of new writers. The award recognizes a first book of poetry published by a Canadian writer in the preceding year. The award carries a $2000 prize and is sponsored by the LCP.

For more information on the poets and books on this list, please see: Celebrating the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award Longlist

2020 Longlist:

• What Fox Knew by Mary Barnes (At Bay Press)
• Boom Time by Lindsay Bird (Gaspereau Press)
• Float & Scurry by Heather Birrell (Anvil Press/A Feed Dog Book)
• Doubter’s Hymnal by Laura Cok (Mansfield Press)
• What to Wear When Surviving A Lion Attack by Paola Ferrante (Mansfield Press)
• How She Read by Chantal Gibson (Caitlin Press)
• 77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin by Thomas King (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Live Ones by Sadie McCarney (University of Regina Press)
• Re-Origin of Species by Alessandra Naccarato (Book*hug Press)
• The Truth About Facts by Bart Vautour (Invisible Publishing)
• These are not the potatoes of my youth by Matthew Walsh (Goose Lane Editions)
• Common Brown House Moths by Laura Zacharin (Frontenac House Ltd)

 

2020 Jurors: Anna Yin, Ben Ladouceur, Robin Richardson

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2020 PAT LOWTHER MEMORIAL AWARD LONGLIST

Open to Canadian women, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award has been awarded annually since 1981 for a book of poetry published in the preceding year. This prize is in memory of the late Pat Lowther, whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975. The award carries a $2000 prize, and is sponsored by the LCP.

For more information on the poets and books on this list, please see: Celebrating the Pat Lowther Memorial Award Longlist

2020 Longlist:

• Renaissance Normcore by Adèle Barclay (Nightwood Editions)
• Unmeaningable by Roxanna Bennett (Gordon Hill Press)
• Bewilderness by Catherine Black (Guernica Editions)
• How She Read by Chantal Gibson (Caitlin Press)
• Sotto Voce by Maureen Hynes (Brick Books)
• heft by Doyali Islam (McClelland & Stewart)
• Sonnet’s Shakespeare by Sonnet L’Abbé (McClelland & Stewart)
• Re-Origin of Species by Alessandra Naccarato (Book*hug Press)
• Inquiries by Michelle Porter (Breakwater Books)
• Strange Attractor by Anne Simpson (McClelland & Stewart)
• The Caiplie Caves by Karen Solie (House of Anansi Press)
• This Is How We Disappear by Titilope Sonuga (Write Bloody North)
• Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa (McClelland & Stewart)

2020 Jurors: Annick MacAskill, Billeh Nickerson, Soraya Peerbaye

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2020 RAYMOND SOUSTER AWARD LONGLIST

The Raymond Souster Award was started in 2013 to honour Raymond Souster, an early founder of the League of Canadian Poets. The award is presented annually for a book of poetry by a League member published in the preceding year. The award carries a $2000 prize, and is sponsored by the LCP.

For more information on the poets and books on this list, please see: Celebrating the Raymond Souster Award Longlist

2020 Longlist:

• NDN Coping Mechanisms by Billy-Ray Belcourt (House of Anansi Press)
• Unmeaningable by Roxanna Bennett (Gordon Hill Press)
• Boom Time by Lindsay Bird (Gaspereau Press)
• How She Read by Chantal Gibson (Caitlin Press)
• Unidentified Poetic Object by Brian Henderson (Brick Books)
• Sonnet’s Shakespeare by Sonnet L’Abbe (McClelland & Stewart)
• Drolleries by Cassidy McFadzean (McClelland & Stewart)
• New Brunswick by Shane Neilson (Biblioasis)
• Treaty # by Armand Garnet Ruffo (Wolsak and Wynn Publishers)
• Strange Attractor by Anne Simpson (McClelland & Stewart)
• Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa (McClelland & Stewart)
• Crow Gulch by Douglas Walbourne-Gough (Goose Lane Editions)

2020 Jurors: Jim Johnston, Suzanne Zelazo, Randy Lundy

 

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Thank you to the 2020 jurors for their hard work and dedication!