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Matt Robinson’s A Fist Made and Then Unmade (Gaspereau Press) earned a spot on this year’s bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlist, which recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry published in chapbook form.

Awarded continuously since 1986, the bpNichol Chapbook Award is currently administered by Meet the Presses. This Toronto-based volunteer collective promotes micro, small and independent literary presses and organizes a variety of curated public events, all focussing on independent publishers of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. 

Meet The Presses also announced today that, beginning this year, the prize purse of the bpNichol Chapbook Award will double from $2,000 to $4,000, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.

This year’s bpNichol Chapbook Award shortlist consists of six poetry titles:

• Government: Jason Christie (above/ground)
• Life Savings: Mat Laporte (Odourless)
• pleasantries and other misdemeanours: Christine McNair (Apt. 9)
• a fist made and then unmade: matt robinson (Gaspereau)
• Oilywood: Christine Leclerc (Nomados)
• X: Phil Hall (Thee Hellbox)

The winner of this year’s bpNichol Chapbook Award will be announced at Meet the Presses’ fifth Indie Literary Market, on Saturday November 22, at the Tranzac Club in Toronto. The Market is an invitational event focused exclusively on things literary. It provides an opportunity for the public to meet independent literary publishers and purchase publications that may not be readily available (or available at all) in bookstores and other commercial outlets.