13 September 2018: A father’s experience of raising children in a world that is “infinitely beautiful and horrible in equal measure” inspired the poem that has won the 2018 University of Canberra Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize.
Canadian poet Michael Lavers has been crowned this year’s winner, beating out competitors from around the globe. It is the second time the father-of-two has won the coveted prize, with his poem Your Father at Fourteen winning in 2016.
Mr Laver’s entry this year, The Angel in Charge of Creating Earth Addresses His Cohort, was written in the voice of an angel who Mr Lavers imagined as the creator of the Earth.
“In my poem’s version of the story, the making of Earth has been delegated to this novice angel and his band of beginners because, I imagine, they don't have the skills necessary to make better, more important worlds,” Mr Lavers explained.
“The poem becomes about failure, the inevitability of failure, but also, I hope, the beauty of failure. There are many aspects of planet earth that could have benefited from a more expert maker, but the poem also tries to acknowledge that it is these very flaws that make this planet and the creatures on it so surprising, so unique, and so irreplaceable.”
Mr Lavers, who teaches poetry writing and literature at Brigham Young University in the United States, said he felt a great deal of gratitude at winning the prize for the second time.
“I feel overwhelmed, confused, humbled, thrilled and shocked,” he said.
“I would say that my predominant emotion is extreme gratitude, and not just that the prize was awarded to me, but more so the fact that this award exists at all, that the University of Canberra is helping to promote poetry and fund poets.”
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Deep Saini said he was thrilled with this year’s entrants and the continued excitement and interest in for the prize.
“The University of Canberra values the significance of poetry and is delighted to promote this art form with this international prize,” Professor Saini said.
“It is wonderful to find, and connect with, poets all around the world and support their work.”.
The University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize has been offered annually since 2014. It is administered by the University’s International Poetry Studies Institute (IPSI).
The prize celebrates the enduring significance of poetry to cultures everywhere in the world and its ongoing and often seminal importance to world literatures. It marks the University’s commitment to creativity and imagination and builds on the work of the IPSI in identifying poetry as a highly resilient and sophisticated human activity.
The 2018 award winner was announced tonight at the launch of the Poetry on the Move festival.
“We look forward to celebrating the prize winners and poetry throughout the Poetry on the Move festival,” Professor Saini said.
For interview opportunities, contact the University of Canberra media team:
Tara Corcoran
0418 806 293
Tara.Corcoran@canberra.edu.au
Antony Perry
0434 795 919
Antony.Perry@canberra.edu.au