USask-affiliated poets make CBC Poetry Prize longlist

Three writers connected to the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of English have been longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.

Dr. Sheri Benning (BA’02, PhD), Katherine Lawrence (MFA’17) and Diana Hope Tegenkamp were among 32 Canadian poets named to the longlist on Oct. 29. Their entries were chosen from nearly 3,000 submissions from across the country by a team of established writers and editors.

The winner of the CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 cash, will be invited to attend a two-week writing residency and will have their work published on CBC Books.

Benning is an assistant professor in the Department of English who received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English from the College of Arts and Science. She is the author of three collections of poetry, with a fourth, Field Requiem, being published next year. Benning’s work has won an Alfred G. Bailey Prize and a John V. Hicks manuscript award. Her CBC Poetry Prize entry is titled Of.

Lawrence is a graduate of the Department of English’s MFA in Writing Program. She has published four books of poetry, including the Moonbeam Award-winning young adult verse novel Stay. Lawrence’s newest poetry collection, Homebodies, is forthcoming. Her CBC Poetry Prize entry is titled All My Questions Kneel Down.

Tegenkamp works as an office coordinator for the Department of English and the Arts and Science Administrative Support Group. A Métis writer living in Saskatoon, Tegenkamp has had her writing published in CV2, Grain, Matrix, Queen Street Quarterly Review and Tessera. She recently completed her first poetry manuscript, Arterial & Quarry. Her CBC Poetry Prize entry is titled Birthmark, Motherfield.

The shortlist for the CBC Poetry Prize will be announced on Nov. 5 and the winner on Nov. 12.

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