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TORONTO - A.F. Moritz, a professor at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, won the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize on Wednesday for "The Sentinel," which was also shortlisted for Governor General's Literary Award last year.
The Canadian award is worth $50,000 and Moritz was pleased about the exposure.
"I believe in what I do and I'm very grateful for this moment that helps it get farther," said Moritz, 62, who has written more than 15 collections of poetry ("The Sentinel" was published by House of Anansi Press).
"But I also would like it to get farther precisely so that it would help be part of the creation or the awareness (of poetry) and that every (poet) would get farther," he told reporters.
C.D. Wright of Providence, Rhode Island took the international Griffin, also worth $50,000, for "Rising, Falling, Hovering" (Copper Canyon Press) at a ceremony attended by literary luminaries including Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and New Yorker writer James Wood, who delivered a keynote address.
Wright had tears in her eyes while giving a brief acceptance speech.
"It was an emotional moment," Wright said after her speech. She has written 12 poetry books and was shortlisted for the Griffin in 2003 for "Steal Away: New and Selected Poem."
"I'm a very good loser; I'm a very awkward winner. I've been well rewarded by the poetry community but this is very moving to me."
The annual honour, now into its ninth year, was created by Toronto businessman Scott Griffin and a group of writers, including Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje.
Honoured is the best book by a Canadian poet and the best book by an international poet published in English in the previous year.
"There are a lot of prizes for fiction, for short fiction, for playwriting, for film, for theatre, but this is the only major prize of its kind on the planet for English," said Canadian writer Michael Redhill, who was on the jury along with Saskia Hamilton from New York City and Ireland's Dennis O'Driscoll. Each read 485 books of poetry, including 33 translations, from 32 countries.
"To be asked to participate in that process and to play a role in it is something that I feel very honoured to be trusted with," added Redhill.
With its cumulative value of $100,000, the Griffin is one of the most lucrative poetry prizes in the world.
Griffin even suggested it could eventually be made into just a single prize: "One day, I don't think it's out of the question of combining the two and making it one prize."
Moritz, who was born in Niles, Ohio and has won the Award in Literature of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, was up against Kevin Connolly of Toronto for "Revolver" (House of Anansi Press) and Jeramy Dodds of Orono, Ont., for "Crabwise to the Hounds" (Coach House Books).
All three had ties even before being nominated: Connolly is a poetry editor at Coach House Books, where he edited Dodds' shortlisted book, and Moritz wrote the first review of Connolly's debut collection of poetry, "Asphalt Cigar," in 1996.
"Their work is precious to me," said Moritz. "I'm glad that it got highlighted as we all did by being finalists or nominees."
Each year, the Griffin Poetry Prize publishes an anthology, a selection of poems from the shortlisted books, published by House of Anansi Press. Royalties go to UNESCO's World Poetry Day.
This year's international short list was rounded out by late Scottish poet Mick Imlah for "The Lost Leader," Ireland's Derek Mahon for "Life on Earth" and American Dean Young for "Primitive Mentor."
Last year, New York's John Ashbery took home the international award while the Vancouver's Robin Blaser, who died last month of cancer, won the Canadian prize.
"He was really a great Canadian poet," said Griffin. "A real icon in the poetry world - part of that sort of San Francisco group - and he'll be sorrily missed."
