Entering the CBC Poetry Prize? 22 tips from writers who know what it takes!
The CBC Poetry Prize is accepting submissions from April 1 to May 31
The 2023 CBC Poetry Prize is open now for submissions, and the winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. They will also attend a writing residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point, a cultural hub on Toronto Island.
You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems, up to 600 words in length. The deadline to submit is Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
We know that submitting to a literary prize can be a daunting task. That's why we asked some of our past readers and CBC Poetry Prize longlisted writers for their best writing tips. Here's what they told CBC Books.
Take inspiration from what you love to read
Alexander Hollenberg says: "Read like your life depends on it. Read broadly. Read deeply. And when you find some piece of writing you love, try hard to figure out why you love it. Is it the rhythm of the lines? The way an image expands into an idea? Is it the sound of words crashing together in a way you never expected? Read closely and try to capture those specifics in your own work."
Alexander Hollenberg is a professor of storytelling and narrative theory. His writing can be found in various journals such as English Studies in Canada, Narrative, Style and the Literary Review of Canada. His poem Library of Trees won the Joseph Howe Prize. He was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for his poem Cod Jigging Near Twillingate.
Develop an ear and an eye for poetry
Sharanpal Ruprai says: "Read and listen to a lot of poetry. Develop a poetry ear and eye. Read your poetry out loud; hear the rhythm of the words, craft the image, show something new and do not end in a cliché."
Sharanpal Ruprai is a poet and an associate professor in the department of women's and gender studies at the University of Winnipeg. Her poetry collection, Pressure Cooker Love Bomb, was shortlisted for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards, the Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry and the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry. Ruprai is the new editor for Contemporary Verse 2. She was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Pay close attention to your surroundings
J. R. Carpenter says: "Go outside every day. Pay attention until you notice something you want to tell another person. Tell them in writing."
J. R. Carpenter is a writer working across performance, print and digital media. Her digital poem The Gathering Cloud won the New Media Writing Prize in 2016. Her most recent collection, This is a Picture of Wind, has been longlisted for the Laurel Prize and was one of the Guardian's best poetry books of 2020. Her poems even this dust / some walks of late / of a feather / this slowly made the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist.
Don't judge yourself prematurely
Bertrand Bickersteth says: "To be a writer involves only two things: read widely and write regularly. Stop judging yourself before you've done anything."
Bertrand Bickersteth's poetry has appeared in the Antigonish Review, Cosmonauts Avenue and the Prairie Journal, as well as the anthology The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry. In 2018, he was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize. His most recent work, The Response of Weeds, won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. He was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Find somewhere to jot down notes and ideas
Eileen Mary Holowka says: "Have a place where you can write down any ideas and notes you have at any time of the day. One day those fragments might just turn into a poem."
Eileen Mary Holowka is a writer and PhD candidate living in Montreal. Her research looks at the intersections of endometriosis and social media. She has also worked in game development and literary publishing and is one of the editors of the upcoming CV2 issue Sick Poetics. She published a digital narrative, circuits, in 2018, which can be played for free online. Holowka's poem the body & the ghost was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Take a break from your poem if needed
Therese Estacion says: "Take a break from your poem, and then come back to it once you've had some distance. Also, read — preferably a different genre — and pay attention to the language you encounter."
Therese Estacion is part of the Visayan diaspora community. She is an elementary school teacher and is studying to be a psychotherapist. She is also a bilateral below knee and partial hands amputee, and identifies as a disabled person. She lives in Tkaronto. Her poems have been published in Contemporary Verse 2 and Pank Magazine, and were shortlisted for the 2021 Marina Nemat Award. Estacion's first collection of poems, Phantompains, was published by Book*Hug Press in spring 2021. She was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Be kind to yourself and just keep writing
C Baran says: "I'm going to give the advice that I work on myself. Be kind to yourself. Every year I have a period of at least a few months where I'm sure that everything I write is terrible. And periods where everything feels great. I suspect neither is true. Don't worry about it. Just keep going."
C Baran is a disabled artist and writer living on Canada's west coast. Her poems have been published in Berkeley Poetry Review, Prism, Room, jubilat, Magma and in Best Canadian Poetry 2019. She was the winner of Prism's 2019 Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize, their 2020 Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V. Short Forms and Magma's 2021 Editors' Prize. Baran's poems She Says, You Know, Though, You Do / The Other Day, I Told Ivan That Having Mice Is Like The Trouble With Tribbles made the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist.
Authenticity is a poet's strongest trait
Justin Timbol says: "Be honest with yourself about who you are as a reader and as a writer and try to understand how the two intersect and interact. For new writers, trying to find a voice to call yours can be the most difficult part and trying to box yourself into a style of writing for the sake of 'sounding poetic' can divebomb your passion and creativity. Know that authenticity is the poet's strongest trait, and that there is merit to all styles of writing, so write from the heart, however it comes out."
Be honest with yourself about who you are as a reader and as a writer and try to understand how the two intersect and interact.- Justin Timbol
Justin Timbol spent the last four years in Windsor studying other subjects before returning to Mississauga, Ont. to write. His work has most recently appeared in the Maynard, Maganda Magazine and Wandering Autumn Magazine. He is currently a student at the Humber School for Writers. He was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for his poem Table Manners.
Write down things that inspire you
Allana Stuart says: "Take inspiration when it comes to you, even if you're not sure what to do with it or where it's going. Write it down, and see what happens. Some of my best work has stemmed from just a few words, a description, an image or even an idea for a title. I rarely sit down with the intention to write about a particular topic or theme, I just catch whatever floats through my mind and hang on for the ride."
Take inspiration when it comes to you, even if you're not sure what to do with it or where it's going.- Allana Stuart
Allana Stuart was once a CBC Radio journalist and is now a writer of poetry and fiction. She is also the producer of the podcast Rx Advocacy. Her poetry has been published in Goat's Milk Magazine and Orangepeel Literary Magazine. She was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem The End of the Line.
Schedule weekly writing sessions
Nicole Lachat says: "We need to make time to write. Think of your imagination like a muscle. Take yourself on a writing date once a week. Put it in your planner and keep the time no matter what. Those hours, no matter how few, should be honoured."
Take yourself on a writing date once a week. Put it in your planner and keep the time no matter what.- Nicole Lachat
Nicole Lachat earned her BA in psychology from the University of Alberta and her MFA in creative writing from New York University. Her poetry appears in Palimpsest Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal and Ruminate Magazine, among others. She won second prize in the Short Grain 2018 Contest and is a Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity fellow. She was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem Migration Song.
Read out loud your work and the works of others
Emily Swinkin says: "Listen to how words sound as you string them together. Read out loud your work and that of others. Hear the rhythm of phrases and sounds that work together. Listen for interesting expressions or an elegant turn of phrase as you go about your day. Jot down words or sentences that come to you and strike your ear. These can serve as a jumping off point for a future piece."
Read out loud your work and that of others. Hear the rhythm of phrases and sounds that work together.- Emily Swinkin
Emily Swinkin is a poet and a neurologist. She currently lives in her hometown where she practises and teaches neurology at the University of Toronto which alternately inspires and hampers her sporadic writing habit. Her poetry has been published in a variety of journals including Acta Victoriana, the University of Toronto Magazine and the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Her poem Water was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Be fun and spontaneous when writing!
Jenna Lyn Albert says: "Don't be afraid of going down a rabbit hole or two. Often writers hyper-focus on getting words down on a page, but there is so much more to the process than that. If the poem you are working on demands that you pause to watch the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that made you question your sexuality or to find a red clover so that you can accurately describe the taste of its nectar, do it. Writing is allowed to be fun and spontaneous."
Jenna Lyn Albert is a queer Acadian poet living on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik people, where she served a two year term as Fredericton's poet laureate from 2019 to 2020. Albert co-hosts the elm & ampersand poetry podcast with Rebecca Salazar and is a member of the Fiddlehead's editorial board. Their debut collection of poetry, Bec & Call, was published in 2018 and won the New Brunswick Book Awards' Fiddlehead Poetry Prize. Albert was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Words are by nature, not that precise
D.M. Bradford says: "You might have a thought you're trying to get into words perfectly, for someone else to find, but words don't work that way. Words, by nature, are not that precise. Getting attached to bridging that distance between a thought that brought you to the table and the words someone else will engage with can ruin the poem."
D.M. Bradford is a poet, editor and organizer based in Montreal. Their work has appeared in The Capilano Review, The Tiny, The Fiddlehead and Carte Blanche. Bradford is a founding editor of House House Press. Their debut poetry collection Dream of No One But Myself won the 2022 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry; it also was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, was shortlisted for the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize, and was longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for best debut book. Bradford was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
There's no shame in not having a routine
Joelle Barron says: "I'm chaotic when it comes to writing. The only tip I can offer to my fellow chaotic writers is to let go of any shame you might have about not being able to maintain a routine."
Joelle Barron is a writer and editor living in Fort Frances, Ont. Their first poetry collection, Ritual Lights, was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and was a finalist for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ emerging writers. Barron was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for their poem Field Party.
A poem does not need to be a memoir
Katie Martí says: "When I started writing poetry, I thought the point was to spill my guts and lay myself bare on the page. But I'm learning that there's a difference between being honest and telling the truth. A poem need not be a memoir. The real work of a poet is to capture and convey a moment, a sentiment, or the essence of an experience with such clarity and precision that it passes as a universal truth."
I'm learning that there's a difference between being honest and telling the truth. A poem need not be a memoir.- Katie Martí
Katie Martí is a poet, author, musician and teacher. She is a two-time winner of the Shuswap Association of Writers' Word on the Lake Writing Contest and was shortlisted for the Writers' Union of Canada Writing for Children Competition. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, including Voices From The Valleys: Stories & Poems, which is about life in B.C.'s Interior. Her poem hydrodynamics was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Find writing peers who you can lean on
Erica Hiroko Isomura says: "Build a community around you to stay motivated, inspired and accountable. A writing practice is often solitary and can feel lonesome at times. It has helped me immensely to develop friendships with other writers and artists who understand my creative practice and who I can 'talk shop' about the craft of writing and storytelling. Find writing peers who you can lean on for support and provide it in exchange — whether that's commiserating after a rejection, exchanging advice, offering an editorial eye to glance at a work-in-progress or celebrating an accomplishment!"
Build a community around you to stay motivated, inspired and accountable.- Erica Hiroko Isomura
Erica Hiroko Isomura is a genre-fluid writer, multi-disciplinary artist and cultural producer from New Westminster, B.C. She is the winner of Room Magazine's 2021 Emerging Writer Award and won first prize for creative nonfiction in Briarpatch Magazine's 2019 Writing in the Margins contest. Her poetry has recently been published in carte blanche, the Maynard and Vallum. Isomura is currently at work on a collection of essays. She was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem language is.
Write in languages other than English
Adriana Oniță says: "You don't have to write in English. Give yourself permission to write and publish in your mother tongue or your fifth language. Allow yourself to weave all of your languages into one text. Write like you dream. Code switch. Write like you speak to your family. Whatever you do, don't listen to Anglocentric advice from those who claim that your work becomes 'inaccessible' when you include your languages or that you will 'alienate' your audience. Remember that your reader is intelligent, often multilingual or at the very least, a curious monolingual."
Adriana Oniță is a Romanian Canadian poet, artist, educator and researcher. She is the editorial director of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the founding editor of the Polyglot, a multilingual magazine of poetry and art. Her recent poems have appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Humber Literary Review, in her chapbook Conjugated Light and in the Romanian Women Voices in North America series. Her poem Untranslatable was shortlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Writing, reading and editing all contribute to your work
Aaron Tucker says: "Writing takes a lot of different forms, wherein the act of putting words to page are a small percentage. It is useful to work with what inspires you and to write something new as regularly as your schedule allows. However, if you don't feel like writing one day, you can spend your energy reading or re-reading a writer you like, responding to a friend's work or re-visiting and editing your own work. It all serves the ecosystem of your work."
Aaron Tucker is the author of the poetry collections Catalogue d'oiseaux, Irresponsible Mediums: The Chess Games of Marcel Duchampas and punchlines. His novel Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos was translated into French in the summer of 2020. He is currently a PhD candidate in the cinema and media studies department at York University, where he is an Elia Scholar, a Vista doctoral scholar and a 2020 Joseph-Armand Bombardier doctoral fellow studying the cinema of facial recognition software and its impacts on citizenship, mobility and crisis. Tucker was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize and in 2022, he made the CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for A Cowboy's Work.
Listen to your surroundings
Natalie Rice says: "Allow for silences in the writing process. There is nothing that the poetic mind cannot access and you may find many poems just by listening. I do this by going for walks in the forest near my home. When I write from this space of embodiment, spaciousness and receptivity, I am better able to move between the sayable and the unsayable, the poem and its silences."
There is nothing that the poetic mind cannot access and you may find many poems just by listening.- Natalie Rice
Natalie Rice is a poet who is currently in the MFA program at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Her work has appeared in the Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy, Event Magazine, the Dalhousie Review, the Malahat Review, Contemporary Verse Two and Lake: Journal of Arts and Environment. She was published by Gaspereau Press in the Devil's Whim chapbook series. She was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem Murmuration.
Let your poem evolve
Kirsteen MacLeod says: "Embrace revision as a process, one that isn't separate from writing. Re-envisioning a poem lets it breathe and evolve beyond your first words and thoughts. For this you need patience, endurance and trust. Poetry is not efficient, which is part of its power and its beauty. Learn to love the process of how a poem came to exist."
Kirsteen MacLeod is a writer who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but has lived in Toronto and Brazil. Her poetry, essays and short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies such as the Literary Review of Canada, CV2, the Malahat Review and Arc Poetry. She has been a finalist for awards including Arc Poetry's Poem of the Year and the CBC Nonfiction Prize. She is the author of the nonfiction book In Praise of Retreat and the short story collection The Animal Game. She made the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for her poem Fallow.
Seek guidance from other writers
Michael Lithgow says: "Don't be afraid to reach out to other writers when you feel stuck or uncertain. Mentorship at the right time can be a critically important part of a writer's development. It takes humility and courage to seek the right kind of guidance. But never lose sight of whose poem it is."
Mentorship at the right time can be a critically important part of a writer's development.- Michael Lithgow
Michael Lithgow is a poet and educator based in Edmonton. His first collection of poetry, Waking in the Tree House, was shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Work from this collection was included in Best of Canadian Poetry 2012. Lithgow's second collection, Who We Thought We Were As We Fell, was published in the spring of 2021. He's currently an associate professor at Athabasca University. Lithgow was a reader for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize.
Learn to love revision
Y. S. Lee says: "When I finish a draft of a poem, I've done all I can with it. It feels good. Often, I think the work is tight and pretty much complete, but maybe in need of a light polish. I set it aside for a few days. When I come back to that draft, I've gained perspective. I can see where it needs pruning, or expansion, or more restraint, or a sideways leap. Revisions continue like this through a dozen drafts, often more. I'm always so glad of the extra time to sift and refine the work."
Y. S. Lee's work has won Arc Poetry Magazine's Award of Awesomeness in July 2020 and shortlisted for Australian Book Review's 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize. Her fiction includes the YA mystery series The Agency, which has been translated into six languages. Her first picture book is forthcoming from Groundwood Books. Lee's poem Saturday morning, East Pender Street was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize. Lee also made the shortlist of the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize for Tek Tek.
