The finalists for the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize, the world’s richest prize for a collection of poetry in English, have been revealed.

This year’s judging panel, which chose the shortlists from 560 submissions from 42 countries, comprises poets Tim Bowling (Canada), Fanny Howe (U.S.), and Piotr Sommer (Poland).

The Canadian finalists of the $65,000 prize are Shane Book for his sophomore collection Congotronic (House of Anansi Press), in which “multiple layers of voice, diction, and music collide”; Macmillan Prize for Poetry winner Jane Munro for Blue Sonoma (Brick Books), about a partner’s decline into Alzheimer’s; and Governor General’s Literary Award–shortlisted Russell Thornton for The Hundred Lives, a collection spanning continents and eras.

The shortlist for the $65,000 international prize is as follows:

• Wang Xiaoni; Eleanor Goodman, trans., Something Crosses My Mind (Zephyr Press)
• Wioletta Greg; Marek Kazmierski, trans. Finite Formulae & Theories of Chance (Arc Publications)
• Michael Longley, The Stairwell (Jonathan Cape)
• Spencer Reece, The Road to Emmaus (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Each shortlisted poet will receive $10,000 and will perform a reading in Toronto on June 3.  A forthcoming anthology published by House of Anansi Press will include select work by each finalist. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on June 4.