Sarah Tsiang of Kingston was announced as a 2019 CBC Poetry Prize runner up earlier today.
Awarded by CBC BOOKS, CBC’s online home for literary content, in addition to its partners the Canada Council for the Arts and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Montreal-born Kingston author was honoured for her poem “12“.
“This long poem in 12 sections is about my daughter when she was 12,” Tsiang told CBC Books. “It’s a complicated time and I wanted to capture the beauty and danger of that age.”
As runner up, she will be awarded $1000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her poem will be published on CBC Books.
According to CBC Books:
Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang is the author of 10 books including poetry, picture books and fiction. Her books for children range from board books such as Toesy Toes to Young Adult including Breathing Fire. Her 2013 book Status Update was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and her 2011 book Sweet Devilry won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.
Her poetry books are a mix of traditional forms, lyric, and invented forms. She has been anthologized in collections such as Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, Poet-to-Poet and the Newborn Anthology. Her poem My Boy made the longlist for the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize. She currently teaches poetry through UBC’s optional residency MFA program.
Read more about Sarah Tsiang at her website
The winner of this year’s CBC Poetry Prize is Alycia Pirmohamed. The Calgarian, born and raised in Edmonton, won the grand prize for “Love Poem with Elk and Punctuation, Prairie Storm and Tasbih”. Along with a cash prize and having her work published on CNC Books, she will also receive a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
About CBC Books
Home to Canada Reads, Writers & Company with Eleanor Wachtel, The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, Canada Writes and the CBC Literary Prizes, CBC Books connects Canadians with books, encouraging a shared love of reading and writing. For book news, writing challenges, reading lists, book recommendations and more, visit www.CBCbooks.ca.
