Nigerian-Canadian Poet, Tolu Oloruntoba, Wins the Prestigious $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize

Nigerian-Canadian Poet, Tolu Oloruntoba, Wins the Prestigious $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize

A Nigerian-Canadian writer and poet, Tolu Oloruntoba, has won the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize for his collection, “The Junta of Happenstance.”

The Griffin Poetry Prize is based in Canada and was founded by businessman and philanthropist, Scott Griffin, in 2000. The award has two categories: the indigenous category, and the international category for a poet of a different nationality, who writes in English or whose works are translated into English.

This year’s winners were selected from a total of 639 books submitted by authors from 16 countries. The shortlisted candidates were released on the 13^th of April.

The Canadian list had Tolu Oloruntoba, Liz Howard, and David Bradford; while the international list had Catalan Gemma Gorga translated to English by Sharon Dolin, Ukrainian Natalka Bilotserkivets, translated from Ukrainian by Ali Kinsella and Dzvinia Orlowsky, and Ed Roberson and Douglas Kearney from the U.S.

Tolu Oloruntoba emerged as the winner in the Canadian category.

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The prize, which is one of the world’s richest awards for a book of poetry, is Tolu’s latest addition to his strings of awards. Tolu’s poem, The Junta of Happenstance had previously won the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry and was longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and Raymond Souster Award.

The Junta of Happenstance is a collection of poems about an exploration of disease, both medical and emotional. It explores family dynamics, social injustice, the immigrant experience, economic anxiety, and the nature of suffering.

Tolu, who practiced medicine for six years, started poetry when he was 16. Tolu’s poems explore the struggles of diasporic peoples around the globe as they traverse both land and cultures.

Tolu’s first chapbook, Manubrium, was shortlisted for the 2020 Nichol Chapbook Award, and he was named a writer to watch in 2022 by CBC Books.

Tolu’s latest book is Each One a Furnace, a poetry book that explores immigration and transience through the imagery of migratory birds, which typify the unrest of billions of humans in the modern world.

Tolu is the founder of the literary magazine Klorofyl.

Congratulations Tolu Oloruntoba.