LIGHT & The Outside World

NEWS
18 June 2014

Souvankham Thammavongsa is the winner of this year’s Trillium Book Award for Poetry, for Light (Pedlar Press, 2013).

Jury Comment:  Souvankham Thammavongsa’s Light is as economical an account of the entire world as one could hope to find. The poet’s powerful zoom lens transforms a light bulb box to a Buddhist temple, a plot of parsley to a cheerleading squad, a colossal squid to supper, the sky to an ashtray, and dung to light. If “profound pun” is an oxymoron to you, then Thammavongsa will show you the error of that thinking. At once serious and hilarious, singular and deeply relatable, this collection is a landmark in contemporary poetry.
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FINALISTS FOR 2014 TRILLIUM BOOK AWARD

TORONTO – Six English books and five French were shortlisted for the 2014 Trillium
Book Award, the Ontario government’s prestigious award for literature. This year, five titles were
also short-listed for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry; three in English and two in French.

English Finalists for the Trillium Book Award/Prix Trillium:

· Craig Davidson, Cataract City (Doubleday Canada)
· ****Barry Dempster, The Outside World (Pedlar Press)**** 
· Lorna Goodison, Supplying Salt and Light (McClelland & Stewart)
· Helen Humphreys, Nocturne (HarperCollins Publishers)
· Hannah Moscovitch, This is War (Playwrights Canada Press)
· Peter Unwin, Life Without Death and Other Stories (Cormorant Books)

Finalists for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry in English language:

· Austin Clarke, Where the Sun Shines Best (Guernica Editions)
· Adam Dickinson, The Polymers (House of Anansi Press)
· ***Souvankham Thammavongsa, Light (Pedlar Press)*** ❥❥❥

QUOTE
“Ontario is fortunate to have a tremendous network of local publishers and so many gifted writers, whose work is in demand around the world. Congratulations to this year’s finalists – their new stories carry on a rich literary tradition and we wish them continued success.” – Kevin Shea, Chair, Ontario Media Development Corporation