Contests

Long Poem Prize - Meet the Judges

Klara du Plessis

Klara du Plessis

Klara du Plessis is a poet, artist-scholar, and literary curator. Her debut poetry collection, Ekke, won the 2019 Pat Lowther Memorial Award and her critical writing received Arc Poetry Magazine’s 2022 Critic’s Desk Award. She is known for her contributions to long-form and translingual poetics, and writes in and between English and Afrikaans. Welcoming collaborative formations, her narrative poem, "Hell Light Flesh," was adapted and produced as a mono-opera film with composer Jimmie LeBlanc, premiered at the International Festival of Films on Art in 2023. Klara develops an ongoing series of experimental and dialogic literary events called Deep Curation, an approach which posits the poetry reading as artform. Her fourth poetry collection, Post-Mortem of the Event, appeared with Palimpsest Press, fall 2024.

 

Khashayar Mohammadi

Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi

Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi (They/Them) is a queer, Iranian born, Toronto-based poet, writer and translator. They were shortlisted for the 2021 Austin Clarke poetry prize, 2022’s Arc Poem of the Year award, The Malahat Review’s 2023 Open Season Poetry Award and The Fiddlehead’s 2024 Ralph Gustavson Award. They are the winner of the 2021 Vallum Poetry Prize and the author of four poetry chapbooks and three translated poetry chapbooks. They have released two full-length collections of poetry with Gordon Hill Press. Their full-length collaborative poetry manuscript G is out with Palimpsest press as of fall 2023, and their full-length collection of experimental dream-poems Daffod*ls is out with Pamenar Press. Their translation of Ghazal Mosadeq’s Andarzname is forthcoming with Ugly Duckling Presse Fall 2025. Their fifth poetry manuscript Book of Interruptions is forthcoming with Wolsak and Wynn fall 2025.