Turnstone Press is pleased to share the news that the Manitoba Arts Council has named poet Di Brandt the winner of the 2023 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction.
Awarded annually, this $30,000 prize recognizes a professional artist, Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, or arts and cultural professional for their contribution to the development of the arts in Manitoba as well as artistic excellence.
One of Canada’s most influential poets, Di Brandt has published more than a dozen books of poetry, fiction, creative essays and literary criticism, and has received numerous awards in several genres. She has held prestigious appointments at several Canadian universities, and has given literary readings and lectures at festivals, conferences and other venues around the world. She was honoured to serve as Winnipeg’s inaugural poet laureate for 2018-2019. Di's most recent book is The Sweetest Dance on Earth: New and Selected Poems, which, for the first time, gathers together the best work of this Griffin Award nominated poet, distills into one collection Di Brandt’s insatiable desire to understand, question and show the world in a new light.
In the Manitoba Arts Council press release, Randy Joynt, Executive Director of the Manitoba Arts Council shares this about the prize: “MAC is very proud to honour Di Brandt with the 2023 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction,” [he continues] “Di is a trailblazing writer whose work challenges and confronts the status quo – for women writers, for the arts’ role in climate action, for marginalized voices – and has changed the landscape of the Canadian literary movement forever.”
You can read the full announcement from the Manitoba Arts Council here.
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