We’re pleased as the proudest of parents about all our publications, but we’re especially proud that three of our recent icehouse poetry collections have been nominated for major Canadian awards!

We will present them alphabetically, by author, to make sure we aren’t playing favourites.

Ali Blythe’s Hymnswitch — acclaimed by Quill & Quire for its “incredible economy of language . . . Blythe delivers taut yet expansive hymns” — has been nominated for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes’ 2020 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. The award of $3,000, as well as for six other categories of literature, will be announced at a gala on Saturday, September 19, 2020.

Douglas Walbourne-Gough’s Crow Gulch — already nominated for the League of Canadian Poets’ 2020 Raymond Souster Award — is now shortlisted for the first annual Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. The new prize includes a $1,000 cash award and a week-long residency at Derek Walcott’s home in either St. Lucia or in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, during the annual Walcott Festival.

Matthew Walsh’s These are not the potatoes of my youth — recently shortlisted for the League of Canadian Poets’ 2020 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award — adds to its acclaim with a nomination for the 2020 Trillium Book Award for Poetry. Winners in the poetry categories receive $10,000, and finalists in all categories will each receive a $500 honorarium.