UT professor Roger Reeves receives Griffin Poetry Prize for his guide ‘Greatest Barbarian’

After competing towards greater than 600 different poets, affiliate professor Roger Reeves received the Griffin Poetry Prize for his guide “Greatest Barbarian” on June 7.  

“It’s not like something I may have imagined I might ever win,” Reeves mentioned. “I’m humbled by it.”

Based on its web site, The Griffin Poetry Prize is the world’s largest worldwide prize — $130,000 — for a single guide of poetry written or translated into English. 

The prize was based in 2000 with its first winner in 2001. Founder and chairman Scott Griffin mentioned he labored with the opposite founders to “elevate the profile of poetry” in simply Canada initially and noticed the necessity for the popularity of poetry globally. 

“It was not actually a part of the curriculum within the colleges,” Griffin mentioned. “Only a few folks have been shopping for poetry, fewer folks have been studying it and nearly none have been citing it. So, we felt that one thing needed to be completed.”

Quickly sufficient, the award turned worldwide. Now, the group provides away greater than $200,000 in awards to poets world wide for his or her writing. 

Reeves’ profitable guide relies on experiences from his life. A number of the matters embody coping with his father’s passing whereas turning into a father himself, music, race in America and the “ecstatic expertise of language, of affection.”

Reeves mentioned he plans to make use of the cash from the award to assist out his mom and grandmother, two those who helped elevate him and introduce him to language. 

Reeves mentioned he grew up with language. Raised in a family the place his mom and grandmother beloved to learn, Reeves mentioned he and his sister grew up surrounded by all kinds of books. Now, poetry is a “elementary half” of how Reeves sees the world. 

“I’m searching for poems. I’m listening to poems. I’m smelling poems. I’m tasting poems. I’m touching poems and seeking to solely form of be within the poem,” Reeves mentioned. 

Reeves teaches a number of poetry lessons on the College and mentioned he enjoys his place. 

“It’s nice when you will discover college students who’re as passionate as you’re in regards to the phrase and about poems and what poems may permit them,” Reeves mentioned. 

Inventive writing professor Lisa Olstein, who works intently with Reeves, mentioned she was “overjoyed” to listen to about his accomplishment. 

“I do know that he’s deeply engaged with the facility and potential of language in poetry in a approach that’s directly, extremely, erudite,” Olstein mentioned. “I believe that his is an enchanting and deeply dedicated poetic thoughts.”