Literary PrizesThe winner will receive $6,000, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC BooksThe winner will receive $6,000, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC BooksCBC Books · Posted: Nov 05, 2025 9:45 AM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesWriters from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize. (See individual pages for credit)Twenty-three writers from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize. The complete list is: Oliphant Cemetery, Three Years Old by Nicole Boyce (Calgary)Two Brothers by Chad Campbell (U.K.)Thirty-Seven Degrees 三十七度 by J.L. Chen (Vancouver)A Body of Water Running by Trina Das (Windsor, Ont.)Current Life & Outer Space by Em Dial (Toronto)Restless by natasha gauthier (New Westminster, B.C.)Libations by Maura Halloran (Vancouver)Assimilation For Interned Japanese-Canadians by Kevin Irie (Toronto)Métis Road Allowance by Daniel Kim (Toronto)Hold for the Next Available Me by Jennifer Manuel (Duncan, B.C.)Mice, Toads, Peacocks and On a Misty Morning by the Saint Lawrence Beside Potted Pink, Purple, & Yellow Flowers, I Think of How Much I’ve Complained This Month Alone and When I Introduce My Friend, I Proudly Say, “This Is Peter, He Doesn’t Have an Esophagus” by Brad Aaron Modlin (Montreal)3 pm by Ramiro Mora (Toronto)Birch Water Harvest by Lana Olexandria (Toronto)A Canadian Daughter by Mary Plazas Ma (Calgary)2000: 5 Years after the War, my Father Buys a Vinyl Record. My Mother Dances in the Chorus by Luka Poljak (Vancouver)Refugee by Jim Read (Sussex, N.B.)Mixed Girl as Cosmogonic Myth by Jordan Redekop-Jones (Delta, B.C.)Northern Girls by Carly Straker (Yellowknife)Queer Vandal by Gordon Taylor (Toronto)Transitioning by Andrea Louise Thomas (Australia)Lachesis Says Cheese by Matthew Walsh (Toronto)Autistic Kōans from the 504 and Memory Palace of the One-Track Oracle by Jan A. Wozniak (Toronto)I Didn’t Know What to Call It by Laura Zacharin (Toronto) The longlist was selected from more than 3,200 submissions. Submissions are processed by a two-tiered system: the initial texts are screened by a reading committee chosen for each category from a group of qualified editors and writers across the country. Each submission is read by two readers. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list.The readers come up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 submissions that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the approximately 30 entries that comprise the longlist that is forwarded to the jury. Works are judged anonymously on the basis of the participant’s use of language, originality of subject and writing style. The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers’ longlisted selections. This year’s jury is composed of Carol Rose GoldenEagle, Paul Vermeersch and Britta B.The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 13 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 19.The winner of the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. Last year’s winner was Rachel Robb for her poem Palimpsest County. The longlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed. To read more, go to the Prix de poésie Radio-Canada.The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. Past winners include Susan Musgrave, Lorna Crozier, Alison Pick, Michael Ondaatje and Carol Shields.16 famous Canadian writers who won CBC Literary PrizesIf you’re interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the 2026 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.
6 B.C. writers make 2025 CBC Poetry Prize longlist
