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The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry: Winner and Shortlist 2008
The judges were impressed by the strength of entries for the 2008 award, with fine collections from both established and new poets. We were also pleased to find several publishing houses active in a field sometimes considered neglected, although always fostered by the periodicals in which many of these poems found their first hearing. We looked for poetry that was memorable for its imaginative and linguistic force, its thoughtfulness, tonality, and cadence.
Judges: Jennifer Strauss (Convenor), Claire Gaskin and Peter Rose
Winner
The winner of the CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry is:
Shortlist
| EventJudith Bishop
(Salt Publishing)
Judith Bishop’s Event is distinguished by the sophistication and originality of its varied subject matter, its attention to craft and form, and above all by the intensity of its language, which confidently creates striking effects - sometimes dark, sometimes brilliant, often daring. |
| Press Release - WINNERLisa Gorton
(Giramondo Publishing)
The consistent poise and thoughtfulness of Lisa Gorton’ poetic voice in Press Release is remarkable, whether modulating into intellectual speculation, wry humour, or an elegiac tenderness utterly unsentimental or self-regarding. Many poets have written about the Mallee: Gorton’s sequence manages to be original, technically varied, and at once witty and poignant. |
| As We Draw OurselvesBarry Hill
(Five Islands Press)
Barry Hill has several earlier collections, but the judging panel found in As We Draw Ourselves the element of fresh directions we were privileging in well-known contenders. That poetry about art can be a way of exploring what it is to be human is a traditional enough theme, but Hill’s tri-partite locating of his texts in China, Italy and Australia extends the thematic range, and, in particular, allows the admirable delicacy and elegance of the poems in the opening Chinese section to contrast strikingly with the more robust quality of the Italian. | |
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