The Archibald Lampman Award recognizes an outstanding book of English-language poetry by an author living in the National Capital Region.
The jury for the 2022 award were Bertrand Bickersteth (Calgary), Peter Norman (Etobicoke), and Isabella Wang (New Westminster).
2022 Winner
“Masses on Radar” by David O’Meara
Masses on Radar exhibits a stunning mastery of poetic craft. O’Meara has the talent and technique to turn almost anything into riveting poetry, but these poems do not coast: they dig deep, bringing to vivid life a remarkable array of subjects, experiences, emotions, and interior worlds. These poems summon quotidian encounters, sometimes conferring them with unexpected beauty, sometimes breathing new and sudden problems into them. O’Meara’s sparse language lifts the veil on our human failings, the limits of our vision, and in so doing satisfies. [2022 Judges]
David O’Meara is the Director of the Plan 99 Reading Series, and was the founding Artistic Director for VERSeFest. His most recent book is A Pretty Sight. He lives in Ottawa.
2022 Shortlist
“buckled into the sky” by Adele Graf
Graf deploys a masterful ear and eye, and a playful sense of the possibilities of language, in addressing a remarkable range of subject matter, from serious tragedy to ancient myth to family history to the foibles of contemporary existence. The interplay between the personal and the historical is effectively achieved, as are the renderings of personal truth mined from family lore. This skilful, varied collection offers an intriguing glimpse of a brilliant and engaged sensibility.
Adele Graf grew up outside New York City and immigrated to Canada in 1968. She has worked as a writer and editor, and taught writing in the public and private sectors in Halifax and Ottawa. Her first book of poetry, math for couples, was published by Guernica Editions in 2017 and shortlisted for the Archibald Lampman Award. Her chapbook, Directions to Suffern NY circa 1950, won the Tree Reading Series chapbook prize and was published in 2018. Her second book of poetry, buckled into the sky, was published by Guernica Editions in 2021. She lives in Ottawa with her spouse.
“DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono” by Nduka Otiono
Otiono’s edited collection of poetry reflects consummate diasporic writing, as at ease in Lagos as in Edmonton. Crafty and aware, these poems give us Otiono’s take on history, global petroleum, national politics, but also spend valuable time musing on tradition, literature, and love. Beyond the poems themselves—which churn with linguistic play, rhythmic force, and searing insight—this volume includes helpful commentary and a thoroughly illuminating interview between Otiono and Chris Dunton. Wonderful poetry from a poet who is already internationally important.
Nduka Otiono is Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author and co-editor of several books of creative writing and academic research including Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (2021). Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria and General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors. His research has appeared in top-ranked journals, and his creative writing books include his recently re-issued debut, The Night Hides with a Knife, which won the ANA/Spectrum Prize for Fiction; Voices in the Rainbow (poems), which received Honourable Mention for the ANA/Cadbury Poetry Prize; and Love in a Time of Nightmares, for which he was awarded the James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing. His professional honours include a Capital Educator’s Award for Excellence in Teaching; Carleton University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Early Career Award for Research Excellence; Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship; and Black History Ottawa Community Builder Award. Otiono is President of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) and member of the board of directors of the Canadian Authors Association. DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono, is his most recent book published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Other 2022 Nominees
| Book | Poet | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Repointing the Bricks | Jacqueline Bourque | Mansfield Press |
| Becoming History | Blaine Marchand | Aeolus House |
| Things You Need to Hear Most | Samukele Ncube | self-published |
| Through the Waspmouth I Drew You | Nicola Vulpe | Guernica Editions |
| Bricolage | A. Garnett Weiss aka JC Sulzenko | Aeolus House |
Arc is grateful for the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Ottawa, as well as many individual supporters. For further information contact Arc Poetry Magazine at managingeditor@arcpoetry.ca.