| J.M. Abraham Poetry Award | |
|---|---|
| Description | Best work of poetry by an Atlantic Canadian writer |
| Country | Canada |
| Presented by | Atlantic Book Awards & Festival |
| Rewards | $2,000 (winner) $250 (finalists) |
| Website | atlanticbookawards |
The J.M. Abraham Poetry Award, formerly known as the Atlantic Poetry Prize, is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Atlantic Book Awards & Festival, to the best work of poetry published by a writer from the Atlantic provinces. The winner receives $2,000 and finalists receive $250 each.
The award was established in 1998 as the Atlantic Poetry Prize and was renamed in 2014 to honor Father Joseph Murray Abraham. [1]
| Year | Poet | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Carmelita McGrath | To the New World | [2] |
| Carole Glasser Langille | In Cannon Cave | [3] | |
| 1999 | John Steffler | That Night We Were Ravenous | [4] |
| Don Domanski | Parish of the Physic Moon | [5] | |
| Robin McGrath | Escaped Domestics |
| Year | Poet | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Ken Babstock | Mean | [6] |
| Herménégilde Chiasson (tr. Jo-Anne Elder, Fred Cogswell) | Climates | [7] | |
| George Elliott Clarke | Beatrice Chancy | ||
| 2001 | Anne Simpson | Light Falls Through You | [8] |
| Douglas Burnet Smith | The Killed | [9] | |
| John MacKenzie | Sledgehammer and Other Poems | ||
| 2002 | M. Travis Lane | Keeping Afloat | [10] |
| Herménégilde Chiasson | Conversations | [11] | |
| Patrick Warner | All Manner of Misunderstanding | ||
| 2003 | Anne Compton | Opening the Island | [12] |
| Brian Bartlett | The Afterlife of Trees | [13] | |
| Robert Moore | So Rarely in Our Skins | ||
| 2004 | Brian Bartlett | Wanting the Day | [14] |
| Jill MacLean | The Brevity of Red | [15] | |
| Sue Sinclair | Mortal Arguments | ||
| 2005 | David Helwig | The Year One | [16] |
| Susan Goyette | Undone | [17] | |
| John Smith | Fireflies in the Magnolia Grove | ||
| 2006 | Anne Compton | Processional | [18] |
| Robin McGrath | Covenant of Salt | [19] | |
| Harry Thurston | A Ship Portrait | ||
| 2007 | Steve McOrmond | Primer on the Hereafter | |
| Mary Dalton | Red Ledger | ||
| Peter Sanger | Aiken Drum | ||
| 2008 | Don Domanski | All Our Wonder Unavenged | [20] |
| George Murray | The Rush to Here | [21] | |
| Anne Simpson | Quick | ||
| 2009 | Brent MacLaine | Shades of Green | |
| Sue Sinclair | Sector | ||
| Alan R. Wilson | Sky Atlas |
| Year | Poet | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen | Lean-To | [22] |
| Anne Compton | Asking Questions Indoors and Out | [23] | |
| Zachariah Wells | Track & Trace | ||
| 2011 | John Steffler | Lookout | |
| Douglas Burnet Smith | Learning to Count | [24] | |
| Johanna Skibsrud | I Do Not Think That I Could Love a Human Being | ||
| 2012 | Susan Goyette | outskirts | [25] |
| Warren Heiti | Hydrologos | [26] | |
| Anne Simpson | Is | ||
| 2013 | Lesley Choyce | I'm Alive. I Believe in Everything | [27] |
| Carole Glasser Langille | Church of the Exquisite Panic: The Ophelia Poems | [28] | |
| George Murray | Whiteout | ||
| 2014 | Don Domanski | Bite Down Little Whisper | [29] |
| Mary Dalton | Hooking | [30] | |
| Susan Goyette | Ocean | ||
| 2015 | Susan Paddon | Two Tragedies in 429 Breaths | [31] |
| Brian Bartlett | Ringing Here & There: A Nature Calendar | [32] | |
| Sylvia Hamilton | And I Alone Escaped to Tell You | ||
| 2016 | Susan Goyette | The Brief Reinacarnation of a Girl | [33] |
| Phillip Crymble | Not Even Laughter | [34] | |
| John Wall Barger | The Book of Festus | ||
| 2017 | Jennifer Houle | The Back Channels | [35] |
| Margo Wheaton | The Unlit Path Behind the House | [36] | |
| Patrick Woodcock | You Can't Bury Them All | ||
| 2018 | Julia McCarthy | All the Names Between | [37] |
| Allan Cooper | Everything We've Loved Comes Back to Find Us | [38] | |
| Alison Dyer | I'd Write the Sea Like a Parlour Game | ||
| 2019 | Allison Smith | This Kind of Thinking Does No Good | [39] |
| Basma Kavanagh | Ruba’iyat for the Time of Apricots | [40] | |
| Annick MacAskill | No Meeting Without Body |
| Year | Poet | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Lucas Crawford | Belated Bris of the Brainsick | [41] |
| Tammy Armstrong | Year of the Metal Rabbit | [42] | |
| Anne Compton | Smallholding | ||
| 2021 | Afua Cooper | Black Matters | [43] |
| David Huebert | Humanimus | ||
| shalan joudry | Waking Ground | ||
| 2022 | Alyda Faber | Poisonous If Eaten Raw | [44] |
| Triny Finlay | Myself a Paperclip | [45] | |
| Rebecca Salazar | Sulphurtongue | ||
| 2023 | Nanci Lee | Hsin | [46] |
| Luke Hathaway | The Affirmations | [47] | |
| Annick MacAskill | Shadow Blight | ||
| 2024 | Fawn Parker | Soft Inheritance | [48] |
| Joe Bishop | Indie Rock | [49] | |
| Matthew Hollett | Optic Nerve | ||
| Sadie McCarney | Your Therapist Says It's Magical Thinking | ||
| Harry Thurston | Ultramarine | ||
| 2025 | Douglas Walbourne-Gough | Island | [1] |
| Clare Goulet | Graphis scripta / writing lichen | ||
| Annick MacAskill | Votive | ||
| Johanna Skibsrud | Medium | ||
| Bren Simmers | The Work |