News

Far Horizons Award for Poetry

2010 Winner

The Malahat Review congratulates Darren Bifford, of Toronto, whose poem, "Wolf Hunter" has won our Far Horizons Award for Poetry.

Bifford’s entry was selected from 498 submitted poems by our final judge, Daryl Hine, of Evanston, IL. Of Bifford's poem, Hine says, “First of all I like the form, which however simple is nonetheless a form, and form invariably gives pleasure in and of itself.  The five-stress line, falling just short, as so many pentameters do of iambic, and thus avoiding excessive regularity, flirts with a syllable count between nine and twelve and gives a pleasant, idiomatic, almost breathless effect, well adapted to the subject matter.  The breathing of the hunter and the hunted become one, which is made explicit in the last two lines, with the key word ‘together’.”

photo of Darren Bifford

Darren Bifford, winner of the 2010 Far Horizons Award for Poetry!

“Wolf Hunter” will appear in our Fall 2010 issue, #172, which will come out at the end of October. Bifford received $500 in prize money, plus $20 per printed page. Look for an interview with Bifford in the Fall edition of our e-newsletter, Malahat lite, and on our website.

DARREN BIFFORD was born and raised in Summerland, B.C. He studied philosophy and has received a BA from the University of Victoria and an MA from Dalhousie. He also worked as teacher in the Humanities department at Champlain College, a cegep in Montreal.

Congratulations also to our 14 finalists: Andréa Ledding (“Fishing Trip”); Chris Nikkel (“Voyage to the Old World”); Clea Roberts (“Cathedral”); Colin Fulton (“Settlement”); Danny Jacobs (“A Fifth Factory”); dee Hobsbawn-Smith (“Poetry in the Cypress Hills”); Jeff Steudel (“Days of Blood”); Jessie Jones (“procession”); Kyeren Regehr (“After the Battle with Mordred”); Lesley Pasquin (“Bowling for Dollars” and “Twelve Steps”); Mary MacDonald (“Marble Song”); Susan Brennan (“Last Prayer of the Day”); and Susan Buis (“Hook and Wren”).

The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for Poetry runs every other year, alternating with our Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction. The deadline for the latter is May 1, 2011 (postmark date). For more information, check out the 2011 Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction guidelines.