Maggie Burton

Newfoundland poet and St. John’s councillor at large Maggie Burton has been named the winner of the 2024 Canadian First Book Prize.

The $10,000 prize, awarded annually by the Griffin Poetry Prize, also comes with a six-week residency in Italy in partnership with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation.

Burton was named the winner this year for her debut collection Chores, published by Breakwater Books. In their citation, judges Albert F. Moritz, Jan Wagner, and Anne Waldman said the book’s “combination of qualities seems effortless but is not only the innate fruit of a vision but the result of skillful poetic design,” and that “Burton applies a critique of how we live while embracing life with tenderness and humour.”

Burton’s book was one of 43 submitted for the prize, which is now in its second year. The new award was unveiled in 2022 when the Griffin Poetry Prize announced that it would merge its international and Canadian categories – and prize amounts – into one single poetry prize. Cree poet Emily Riddle was the inaugural winner of the prize for her collection The Big Melt (Nightwood Editions).

Burton will be invited to read from her book at this year’s Griffin Poetry Prize readings, which are scheduled to take place on June 5 in Toronto.