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Far Horizons Award for Poetry

2018 Winner - Emily Osborne

The Malahat Review is pleased to announce the winner of this year's Far Horizons Award for Poetry. Emily Osborne has won $1,000 for her poem, "Venn diagrams," set for publication in the Malahat's 2018 Autumn issue.

Emily Osborne

Congratulations to Emily Osborne, winner of the 2018 Far Horizons Award for Poetry!

Osborne's entry was selected from over 400 contest submissions by this year's judge, Carolyn Smart. Here's what she had to say about the difficult task of choosing the winning poem:

When the shortlist was sent ot me for consideration, I was warned that it would be a difficult decision to make as the quality of the work was so high. That was an understatement. The work is superb and this decision was the hardest I have made in any contest in which I have had the privilege of serving as a judge. The range of form and content was breathtaking, and affirms for me once again that emerging writers are carrying poetry forward in astounding, inclusive, original ways.

My final decision was for "Venn diagrams," which held my attention fully over a month of intense readings. I found new entry points to it each time, understood more, was baffled and surprised more each time I read it. The sound, the structure, and the content of the poem struck me immediately, but with each successive reading I discovered more of its secrets. It touches on innocence and isolation, on childhood and adult knowledge, on identity and revelation. And it reveals without blatancy, but through a carefully constructed whole. There wasn’t one section or phrase that disappointed or appeared predictable. Within a group of exceptional poems, it was the one that spoke to me the clearest and the longest, though the narrative of others made me cry and struck me intensely with their technique and vivid clarity. It was a real challenge to choose one alone, and overall, an honour to read all the poems submitted.

Emily Osborne’s poetry has appeared in CV2, The Literary Review of Canada, The Eyewear Review, Canthius and elsewhere. Her chapbook Biometrical is forthcoming from Anstruther Press. She earned a PhD in Old-Norse Icelandic literature from the University of Cambridge. Her full-length book of verse translations will be published in 2019.

An interview with Emily Osborne on her winning poem, conducted by Malahat volunteer and previous editorial work study student Rose Morris, will appear in August's Malahat lite e-newsletter.

Congratulations to all of this year's Far Horizons Contest finalists: Andreae Callanan, Eric Demore, Heather Fraser, Charlotte Garrett, Gord Grisenthwaite, Elisabeth Haikkala, Cheryl Jacklin-Piraino, Carrie Jenkins, Laurie Koensgen, Robert Kohen, Sara Mang, Katie McGarry, Emily Osborne, Marianne Pengelly, Catherine J. Stewart, Janice Tokar, Laura Zacharin,

The Malahat Review's Far Horizons Award for Poetry runs every even-numbered year, alternating with the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction.