The 2019 Mitchell Prize for Faith and Writing Awards Celebration (Past Event)

Quick Summary

Join us at the Aga Khan Museum for a celebration of poetry and its power to say the unsayable. This will be a night of merriment, new poetry, and the exciting announcement of our 2019 Mitchell Prize winner and runner up. Together they will share a total of $25,000 in prize money.

Details

6:30pm — reception featuring hor d'oeuvres and cash bar

7:30pm — award ceremony featuring poetry by our award shortlist and brief remarks about faith and poetry by prize judge and acclaimed poet Lorna Goodison

8:45pm — meet and greet with the poets and cash bar

ABOUT THE PRIZE: The biennial Ross and Davis Mitchell Prize for Faith and Writing seeks to recognize Canadian poets who are hammering out new forms and new language to express the ineffable today. The prize seeks to encourage writers whose poems provide access to spiritual experience, awakenings that cast light on the world and make it known. We want to hear from poets who are grappling with transcendence and the divine, those for whom poetry is—as Christian Wiman would describe it—a form of theology.

Poets engaged with all faith traditions are encouraged to submit work, however this prize is not designed to erase distinctions or paper over conflict. There are meaningful differences between Muslims and Christians, Hindus and Orthodox Jews that cannot, and should not, be erased, suppressed, or ignored. Instead, this prize seeks to honor writing that explores the distinctive contours of belief and the shape it gives to modern life.

In 2019, the winner and runner-up will be awarded $20,000 and $5,000 respectively, by a panel of three celebrated writers: Lorna Goodison, Chelene Knight, and Scott Cairns. It is presented by Image with support from Cardus.