Marc Perez, Bren Simmers and Chimwemwe Undi win 2025 League of Canadian Poets prizes
The $2K awards annually recognize the best in Canadian poetry
Marc Perez, Bren Simmers and Chimwemwe Undi are the 2025 winners of the League of Canadian Poets prizes.
The organization administers three poetry prizes to celebrate the past year's best published works — the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for debut books, Pat Lowther Memorial Award for books by Canadian women and Raymond Souster Award for books by League members. The winner of each prize receives $2,000.
Perez won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for Dayo.
Dayo, the Tagalog word for someone who exists in a place not their own, is a poetry collection that examines belonging and trying to put down roots.
Perez is a Filipino poet and writer who lives in Vancouver. His work has been published in The Fiddlehead, EVENT Magazine, decomp journal, CV2, PRISM international and Vallum. He has received grants from the BC Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts and holds a BFA from the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia . He is also the author of the chapbook Borderlands.
Simmers won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award for her poetry collection The Work.
The poems in The Work explore the themes of loss and grief and how one can make themselves whole again after being broken. From the sudden death of her father, her mother's dementia and her sister-in-law's terminal illness, Simmers' poems show us how healing can come from love.
The Work was among the finalists for the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.
Simmers is the author of four books, including the wilderness memoir Pivot Point and Hastings-Sunrise, which was a finalist for the Vancouver Book Award as well as a collection of poetry titled If, When.
Simmers won the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize for her poetry collection Spell World Backwards, which is included in The Work. She was previously longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2013 and in 2012 for Science Lessons.
If you're interested in poetry, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.
Undi's Scientific Marvel won the Raymond Souster Award.
Scientific Marvel is a poetry collection that looks into the history of and current life in Winnipeg. With humour and surprise, it delves into deeper themes of racism, queerness and colonialism while keeping personal lived experiences close to the page.
Scientific Marvel won the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.
Undi is a Winnipeg-based poet, editor and lawyer. She was the Winnipeg poet laureate for 2023 and 2024. She won the 2022 John Hirsch Emerging Writer Award from the Manitoba Book Awards and her work can be found in Brick, Border Crossings, Canadian Literature and BBC World. Undi was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.
The League of Canadian Poets is a organization that supports and elevates poets in local, national and international landscapes. It champions the role of poets in society and offers recognition and development opportunities, including these annual awards.
Last year's winners were Hannah Green, Sandra Ridley and Bradley Peters.
