Liz Howard from Chapleau becomes youngest winner of Griffin Poetry Prize

By Michael J Morris
Liz Howard became the youngest person to win the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize of $65,000 for her book 'Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent'.

Not only is Liz the youngest winner, but the first to do so with her debut collection of poems. In 2015, Liz was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for poetry.

Born in Timmins, but raised in Chapleau, Liz is the daughter of Tamara (nee Turcotte) and Sylvain Rousseau. Her birth father was Russell Howard.

After graduating from Chapleau High School at the top of  her class in 2003, Liz attended the University of Toronto, graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree with distinction in 2007.

In deciding the prize winners, the Griffin committee looked at 633 books of poetry from more than 40 countries, according to news reports.

At the awards ceremony, Liz said she has  several different projects in mind, and "it's hard to focus. All I want to do is write. All I want to do is this one thing."

She also paid particular attention to youth: "I know a lot of our youth today are struggling, especially our First Nations youth. And I guess I just wanted to say that it can get better. And for me, poetry made life possible for me. It made life tolerable for me - both reading it and writing it.

In an earlier interview Liz commented that ""My childhood in Chapleau, especially the significant amount of time I spent in the woods and lakes, are foundational to my writing. I am also very proud of my Anishinaabe (Ojibway) heritage and write about many First Nations issues."