$45,000 poetry prizes awarded

Canadian Sylvia Legris and Barbadian Kamau Brathwaite were awarded the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize at a glitzy ceremony in Toronto attended by writers and publishers from around the world.

The awards, worth $45,332 each to a Canadian and international winner, are among the richest poetry prizes in the world. They were presented during an Asian-themed gala dinner Thursday night.

Legris won for “Nerve Squall.” Brathwaite, a celebrated poet, performer and professor of comparative literature at New York University, was honored in the international category for “Born to Slow Horses.”