
For a heartfelt analysis of the finalists, you should check out Paul Vermeersch's article in the Globe and Mail, and there's an interesting analysis here at poetry blog Table Music.
About two months ago the Griff-Po-Pri people announced the prize's shortlist. The finalists will read their work at The Royal Conservatory in Toronto on Wednesday, June 2, 2010, and then the Griffin people will announce the winners of the poetry lotto. That's only two days away, and the betting and bookmaking is heating up. Wait, you mean you didn't know many bookies give odds and take bets on the winners of literary prizes? Yeah, it's a thing. People like to gamble. Some people have already started crunching the numbers for you. I'd say the current odds-on favorite for the Griffin International Prize is Scottish poet John Glenday.
Me? I prefer underdogs. The current longshot I think is Irish poet and author of The Sun-fish Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin--I say longshot because a) she's a woman, and b) she's not American, both of which put her behind the eight-ball historically. So yeah, I'm putting all my money on Chuilleanáin for the win. Go Sun fish!
Who's your bet?
(*Well, not counting the Nobel Prize in Literature, of course.)
(**Oh wait, there's also the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, which is worth about US$10,000.)