Read press releases and award-winning reviews.

The Inspiration

Book reviewing is an art that involves the engagement of the critic's sensibility with the text. With the Critic's Desk Award, Arc marks the importance that the thoughtful treatment of poetry holds in the evolution and wider appreciation of the genre.

The Award Details

Inaugurated in Arc's 25th-anniversary year, the Critic's Desk Award honours excellence in book reviewing. The Award is given annually to a feature review and to a brief review to have been published in Arc in the previous calendar year. The winners are chosen by a distinguished critic known for his or her contribution as a reviewer of poetry.

The prizes are $250 for the feature review and $100 for the brief review.

All feature and brief reviews published in Arc in a given calendar year are automatically entered. There is no need to apply. Winners are announced in the first issue of the following year.

Arc is pleased to announce the winners of the Sixth Annual

Critic's Desk Award, 2008

FEATURE REVIEW CATEGORY

Abou Farman

for his review in Arc 59, “Poetry of inquiry,” on the rush to here, by George Murray, and Ox, by Christopher Patton

and

BRIEF REVIEW CATEGORY

Katia Grubisic

or her review in Arc 60 of Last water Song by Patick Lane

Judge:
Matthew Holmes

Previous Winners

2007	Winners	Judged by Frank Davey
Feature	Triny Finlay	for her feature review “Back to the Modern: Three Ottawa Poets,” published in Arc 57
Brief	Christopher Doda	for his brief review of Bill Kennedy and Darren Wershler-Henry’s apostrophe in Arc 57

2006	Winners	Judged by George Elliot Clarke
Feature	Abou Farman	for his feature review “History’s Hollow,” published in Arc 54
Brief	Zachariah Wells	for his brief review of Harold Rhenisch’s Free Will in Arc 54

2005	Winners	Judged by Smaro Kamboureli (Guelph, ON)
Feature	Harold Rhenisch	for his review “Five Laureates on the Red Earth Road” in Arc 53
Brief	Zachariah Wells	for his review of Stuart Ross's Hey Crumbling Balcony! Poems New & Selected in Arc 52

2004	Winners	Judged by David Staines (Ottawa)
Feature	Bruce Whiteman	for his review of Charlotte Gray's Flint & Feather: The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake in Arc 51
Brief	Chritopher Doda	for his review of Kevin Connolly's Happyland in Arc 51

2003	Winners	Judged by Barbara Carey (Toronto)
Feature	Harold Rhenisch	for his critique of Shani Mootoo and Joy Kogawa in Arc 48
Brief	Heather Spears	for her critique of Karen Solie in Arc 49