In June 2001, the inaugural Griffin Poetry Prize for the best book of poetry published in English in 2000 was awarded to two poets: one Canadian and one international poet.

The Griffin Prize Anthology includes selections from the remarkable shortlisted books chosen by jurors Carolyn Forche, Dennis Lee, and Paul Muldoon. The selections are from the winning translation by Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan, Canadian winner Anne Carson's Men in the Off Hours, the translation by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld of Yehuda Amichai's Open Closed Open, Fanny Howe's Selected Poems, Les Murray's Learning Human: Selected Poems, Robert Bringhurst's translation of Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas's Nine Visits to the Mythworld, and Don McKay's Another Gravity.

This beautiful selection of these seven extraordinary collections, chosen by poet Esta Spalding, is both a celebration of these formidable poets and this prestigious new prize in one volume. Royalties generated from The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology are donated to UNESCO's World Poetry Day.

Esta Spalding's first book, Carrying Place, was nominated for the Gerald R. Lampert Award and her second, Anchoress, was a finalist for the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Best Specialty Book of the Year. Her third book, Lost August, won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and her fourth, The Wife's Account, was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Esta lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Esta Spalding's profile page