The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is an annual Canadian literary award presented by the League of Canadian Poets to the year's best book of poetry by a Canadian woman. [1] The award was established in 1980 to honour poet Pat Lowther, who was murdered by her husband in 1975. [1] Each winner receives an honorarium of $1000. [1]
| Year | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | M. Travis Lane | Divinations and Short Poems 1973–1978 | Winner | |
| 1982 | Rona Murray | Journey | Winner | [2] |
| 1983 | Rhea Tregebov | Remembering History | Winner | [3] |
| 1984 | Bronwen Wallace | Signs of the Former Tenant | Winner | [1] |
| 1985 | Paulette Jiles | Celestial Navigation | Winner | [4] |
| 1986 | Erín Moure | Domestic Fuel | Winner | [1] |
| 1987 | Heather Spears | How to Read Faces | Winner | [5] |
| Jan Conn | The Fabulous Disguise of Ourselves | Shortlist | [5] | |
| Anne Michaels | The Weight of Oranges | |||
| 1988 | Gwendolyn MacEwen | Afterworlds | Winner | [1] |
| Gay Allison | The Unravelling | Shortlist | [6] | |
| Judith Fitzgerald | Diary of Desire | |||
| Sharon Thesen | The Beginning of the Long Dash | |||
| Bronwen Wallace | The Stubborn Particulars of Grace | |||
| 1989 | Heather Spears | The Word for Sand | Winner | [7] |
| Joan Finnigan | The Watershed Collection | Shortlist | [8] | |
| Erín Moure | Furious |
| Year | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Patricia Young | The Mad and Beautiful Mothers | Winner | [9] |
| Roo Borson | Intent, Or the Weight of the World | Shortlist | [10] | |
| Barbara Carey | The Year in Pictures | |||
| Cathy Ford | Saffron, Rose & Flame | |||
| Erín Moure | WSW (West South West) | |||
| Jan Zwicky | The New Room | |||
| 1991 | Karen Connelly | The Small Words in My Body | Winner | [11] |
| Dionne Brand | No Language Is Neutral | Shortlist | [12] | |
| Elizabeth Brewster | Spring Again | |||
| Jan Conn | South of the Tudo Bem Cafe | |||
| 1992 | Kate Braid | Covering Rough Ground | Winner | [13] |
| 1993 | Lorna Crozier | Inventing the Hawk | Winner | [1] |
| 1994 | Diana Brebner | The Golden Lotus | Winner | [14] |
| 1995 | Beth Goobie | Scars of Light | Winner | [15] |
| 1996 | Lorna Crozier | Everything Arrives at the Light | Winner | [16] |
| Margaret Atwood | Morning in the Burned House | Shortlist | [17] | |
| Di Brandt | Jerusalem, Beloved | |||
| Anne Szumigalski | Voice | |||
| Sharon Thesen | Aurora | |||
| Sue Wheeler | Solstice on the Anacortes Ferry | |||
| 1997 | Marilyn Bowering | Autobiography | Winner | [18] |
| Roo Borson | Water Memory | Shortlist | [19] | |
| Meira Cook | Toward a Catalogue of Falling | |||
| Lynn Crosbie | Pearl | |||
| 1998 | Barbara Nickel | The Gladys Elegies | Winner | [20] |
| Dionne Brand | Land to Light On | Shortlist | [21] | |
| April Bulmer | The Weight of Wings | |||
| Heather Cadsby | A Tantrum of Synonyms | |||
| Elisabeth Harvor | The Long Cold Green Evenings of Spring | |||
| Barbara Mulcahy | The Man With the Dancing Monkey | |||
| Linda Rogers | Heaven Cake | |||
| Patricia Young | What I Remember From My Time on Earth | |||
| 1999 | Hilary Clark | More Light | Winner | [22] |
| Year | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Esta Spalding | Lost August | Winner | [23] |
| Susan Holbrook | Misled | Shortlist | [24] | |
| Helen Humphreys | Anthem | |||
| Erín Moure | The Frame of the Book | |||
| Rachel Rose | Giving My Body to Science | |||
| 2001 | Sharon Thesen | A Pair of Scissors | Winner | [25] |
| 2002 | Heather Spears | Required Reading: A Witness in Words and Drawings to the Reena Virk Trials 1998-2000 | Winner | [26] |
| 2003 | Dionne Brand | thirsty | Winner | [1] |
| 2004 | Betsy Struthers | Still | Winner | [27] |
| Di Brandt | Now You Care | Shortlist | [28] | |
| Mary Dalton | Merrybegot | |||
| Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen | Or | |||
| Jeanette Lynes | Left Fields | |||
| Erin Noteboom | Ghost Maps: Poems for Carl Hruska | |||
| 2005 | Roo Borson | Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida | Winner | [1] |
| Ronna Bloom | Public Works | Shortlist | [29] | |
| Aislinn Hunter | The Possible Past | |||
| K. I. Press | Spine | |||
| Sue Sinclair | The Drunken Lovely Bird | |||
| Jan Zwicky | Robinson's Crossing | |||
| 2006 | Sylvia Legris | Nerve Squall | Winner | [30] |
| 2007 | Sina Queyras | Lemon Hound | Winner | [31] |
| 2008 | Anne Simpson | Quick | Winner | [32] |
| Alison Calder | Wolf Tree | Shortlist | [33] | |
| Louise Bernice Halfe | The Crooked Good | |||
| Nadine McInnis | Two Hemispheres | |||
| Olive Senior | Shell | |||
| Agnes Walsh | Going Around With Bachelors | |||
| 2009 | Alice Major | The Office Tower Tales | Winner | [34] |
| Margaret Christakos | What Stirs | Shortlist | [34] | |
| Linda Frank | Kahlo: The World Split Open | |||
| Daphne Marlatt | The Given | |||
| Sue Sinclair | Breaker | |||
| Heather Spears | I can still draw |
| Year | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Karen Solie | Pigeon | Winner | [35] |
| Elizabeth Bachinsky | God of Missed Connections | Shortlist | [36] | |
| Ronna Bloom | Permiso | |||
| Sina Queyras | Expressway | |||
| Damian Rogers | Paper Radio | |||
| Laisha Rosnau | Lousy Explorers | |||
| 2011 | Evelyn Lau | Living Under Plastic | Winner | [37] |
| Dionne Brand | Ossuaries | Shortlist | [38] | |
| Di Brandt | Walking to Mojácar | |||
| Alice Major | Memory’s Daughter | |||
| Pamela Porter | Cathedral | |||
| Nela Rio | La luna, Tango, siempre la luna/ The Moon, Tango, Always the Moon | |||
| 2012 | Susan Goyette | outskirts | Winner | [39] |
| Stephanie Bolster | A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth | Shortlist | [40] | |
| Lorna Crozier | Small Mechanics | |||
| Rosemary Griebel | Yes | |||
| Amanda Jernigan | Groundwork | |||
| Jan Zwicky | Forge | |||
| 2013 | Rachel Rose | Song and Spectacle | Winner | [41] |
| Marilyn Bowering | Soul Mouth | Shortlist | [42] | |
| Julie Bruck | Monkey Ranch | |||
| Lorna Crozier | The Book of Marvels | |||
| Maureen Scott Harris | Slow Curve Out | |||
| Evelyn Lau | A Grain of Rice | |||
| 2014 | Alexandra Oliver | Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway | Winner | [43] |
| Elizabeth Bachinsky | The Hottest Summer in Recorded History | Shortlist | [44] | |
| Anne Compton | Alongside | |||
| Sadiqa de Meijer | Leaving Howe Island | |||
| Micheline Maylor | Whirr and Click | |||
| Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang | Status Update | |||
| 2015 | Sina Queyras | MxT | Winner | [45] |
| Joanne Arnott | Halfling Spring: an internet romance | Shortlist | [46] | |
| Jen Currin | School | |||
| Judy Halebsky | Tree Line | |||
| Jude Neale | A Quiet Coming of Light | |||
| Lisa Robertson | Cinema of the Present | |||
| 2016 | Lorna Crozier | The Wrong Cat | Winner | [47] |
| Rosanna Deerchild | calling down the sky | Shortlist | [48] | |
| Adebe DeRango-Adem | Terra Incognita | |||
| Maureen Hynes | The Poison Colour | |||
| Rachel Rose | Marry & Burn | |||
| Sarah Tolmie | Trio | |||
| 2017 | Sue Sinclair | Heaven's Thieves | Winner | [49] |
| Anne Carson | Float | Shortlist | [50] | |
| Julie Cameron Gray | Lady Crawford | |||
| Otoniya J. Okot Bitek | 100 Days | |||
| Alexandra Oliver | Let the Empire Down | |||
| Johanna Skibsrud | The Description of the World | |||
| 2018 | Lesley Belleau | Indianland | Winner | [51] |
| Mary di Michele | Bicycle Thieves | Shortlist | [52] | |
| Susan Elmslie | Museum of Kindness | |||
| Beth Goobie | Breathing at Dusk | |||
| Catherine Owen | Dear Ghost | |||
| Phoebe Wang | Admission Requirements | |||
| 2019 | Klara du Plessis | Ekke | Winner | [53] |
| Dani Couture | Listen Before Transmit | Shortlist | [54] | |
| Emilia Nielsen | Body Work | |||
| Laura Ritland | East and West | |||
| Deanna Young | Reunion | |||
| Jennifer Zilm | The Missing Field |
| Year | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Chantal Gibson | How She Read | Winner | [55] |
| Roxanna Bennett | Unmeaningable | Shortlist | [56] | |
| Maureen Hynes | Sotto Voce | |||
| Doyali Islam | heft | |||
| Michelle Porter | Inquiries | |||
| Karen Solie | The Caiplie Caves | |||
| Souvankham Thammavongsa | Cluster | |||
| 2021 | Noor Naga | Washes, Prays | Winner | [57] |
| Cicely Belle Blain | Burning Sugar | Shortlist | [58] | |
| Jody Chan | Sick | |||
| Jillian Christmas | the gospel of breaking | |||
| Kyla Jamieson | Body Count | |||
| shalan joudry | Waking Ground | |||
| 2022 | Selina Boan | Undoing Hours | Winner | [59] |
| Sheri Benning | Field Requiem | Shortlist | [60] | |
| Margaret Christakos | Dear Birch | |||
| Leah Horlick | Moldovan Hotel | |||
| Lillian Nećakov | Il Virus | |||
| Rebecca Salazar | sulphurtongue | |||
| 2023 | Gillian Sze | Quiet Night Think | Winner | [61] |
| Sylvia D. Hamilton | Tender | Shortlist | [62] | |
| Annick MacAskill | Shadow Blight | |||
| Cecily Nicholson | Harrowings | |||
| Otoniya J. Okot Bitek | A Is for Acholi | |||
| Lisa Robertson | Boat | |||
| 2024 | Sandra Ridley | Vixen | Winner | [63] |
| Britta Badour | Wires That Sputter | Shortlist | [64] | |
| Eva H.D. | The Natural Hustle | |||
| Laila Malik | Archipelago | |||
| Kate Siklosi | Selvage | |||
| Kai Cheng Thom | Falling Back in Love with Being Human | |||
| 2025 | Faith Arkorful | The Seventh Town of Ghosts | Shortlist | [65] |
| Manahil Bandukwala | Heliotropia | |||
| Shani Mootoo | Oh Witness Dey! | |||
| Zehra Naqvi | The Knot of My Tongue | |||
| Bren Simmers | The Work | |||
| Barbara Tran | Precedented Parroting |