UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Bren Simmers wins prestigious Writers' Trust of Canada award for poetry

Bren Simmers, publication coordinator at the Island Studies Press, the publishing arm of the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI, was awarded the Latner Griffin Writers' Trust Poetry Prize during the Writers' Trust of Canada's annual awards ceremony in Toronto on November 13.

Bren Simmers (third from right) is the winner of the Writers' Trust of Canada's 2025 Latner Griffin Writers' Trust Poetry Prize. Winners of other Writers' Trust awards are (left to right) Kim Thúy, Maria Reva, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Roza Nozari, Sheree Fitch, and Laurie Martella (representing Julie Flett). Photo credit: Tom Pandi/Writers' Trust

Valued at $60,000, the Latner Griffin Writers' Trust Poetry Prize is awarded annually to a Canadian poet in mid-career who has published at least three collections of poetry that demonstrate mastery of the art. Poets are recognized for a remarkable body of work and for their anticipated future contributions to Canadian poetry.

Simmers is the author of five books, including the poetry collections Night Gears (2010); Hastings-Sunrise (2015); If, When (2021); and The Work (2024), and her first book of non-fiction, Pivot Point (2019). She won the League of Poets' 2025 Pat Lowther Memorial Award for The Work, which was also nominated for a 2024 Governor General's Literary Award. She also won CBC's 2022 Poetry Prize for her collection of poems Spell World Backwards, which is included in The Work; she was the first person from Prince Edward Island to win this prize. Her work has also won The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize and the Arc Poem of the Year Award and has been widely anthologized.

"We here in Island Studies and at UPEI are thrilled for Bren," said Dr. Laurie Brinklow, chair of the Institute of Island Studies and a published poet herself. "Her dedication to her poetry has been tremendously inspiring these past several years. Everyone who comes into her orbit will attest to her artistry as well as her generosity and kindness. This recognition is so well deserved. Congratulations, Bren!"

Simmers has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Victoria and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from the University of British Columbia. She has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Innovation PEI, and the Squamish Arts Council.