This week’s poetry news roundup takes a look at the 2025 Griffin Poetry Prize winners, the call for people to read Heaney’s poetry and a Blue Plaque.

Griffin Poetry Prize Winners 2025 Announced

German writer Durs Grünbein accepted the award for this years Griffin Poetry Prize at a ceremony that took place on Wednesday in Toronto. During the ceremony, he made a point of discussing the war in Ukraine and emphasising the importance he felt poetry holds in supporting the ideals of humanity and democracy.

Grünbein, who will be sharing the prize with Karen Leeder, a British scholar who is a professor of German language and literature at Oxford University, is based in Berlin. The prize is $130,000. Leeder translated “Psyche Running: Selected Poems, 2005-2022” into English. A total of 60% of the prize money will be given to Leeder, who was shocked to be named as the winner.

The collection was praised by the Griffin judges as “universal, lyrical, philosophical.”

This is not the first time that Grünbein has been nominated for a Griffin Prize award; in 2006, he was shortlisted for “Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems,”. The book was translated by Michael Hoffmann, and eventually got to the final few entries.

The Lifetime Recognition Award, which has a prize of $25,000, was awarded to Margaret Atwood. She was given a standing ovation as she arrived on stage to collect her award. Attwood is one of the founding trustees of the prize, which was first awarded to a poet in 2000.

The Canadian First Book Prize was awarded to Dawn Macdonald for “Northerny”, who quipped that Attwood was a hard act to follow as she collected her award.

Volunteers Needed to Read Poems from North

The poetry collection “North” written by the late Seamus Heaney will be celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year. Members of the public are being sought to help read some of the 30 poems in the collection as part of a commemorative event.

On 30th  and 31^st August, a number of public readings of Heaney’s North, which was published in 1975,  will be presented, alongside some performed readings of the play “Volunteers” which was also published in the same year. These are community readings that will take place across the city.

Blue Plaque honours Poet’s Connection to Wales

A blue plaque has been unveiled in the town of Barmouth in honour of the 150^th anniversary of a visit made by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to the town. An English poet and Jesuit priest, Hopkins was not widely recognised during his lifetime, however his reputation has achieved widespread renown in the years since.

In 1875, he travelled to Barmouth for a retreat, staying in a B&B in the town centre. It is believed that this visit resonated with his poetic aspirations and helped to shape much of his later work.

As part of the unveiling, there were a number of readings that took place and a limited release of 150 bottles of Hopkins Ale, which was brewed by local brewery Myrddins in commemoration of the event.