Three Canadian poets—Marc Perez, Bren Simmers, and Chimwemwe Undi—have been named the 2025 recipients of the League of Canadian Poets’ annual poetry prizes, each earning $2,000 for their outstanding contributions to Canadian literature.
The League administers three national awards annually to celebrate the best poetry books published in the previous year. The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award honours debut collections, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award recognizes poetry by Canadian women, and the Raymond Souster Award celebrates works by League members.
Marc Perez Wins Gerald Lampert Memorial Award
Marc Perez received the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for Dayo, his debut poetry collection. The book’s title, a Tagalog term referring to someone living in a place not their own, reflects themes of displacement, identity, and the search for belonging.
Perez, a Filipino poet based in Vancouver, has previously been published in journals such as The Fiddlehead, EVENT Magazine, and PRISM international. He is the author of the chapbook Borderlands and a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing. His work has been supported by both the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Bren Simmers Takes Pat Lowther Memorial Award
Bren Simmers was awarded the Pat Lowther Memorial Award for her collection The Work, which confronts grief, loss, and the resilience needed to move forward. Drawing from deeply personal experiences—including the death of her father, her mother’s dementia, and a family member’s terminal illness—Simmers offers a poetic exploration of healing through love and memory.
The Work was a finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry. Simmers, who lives in Prince Edward Island, has authored four books, including the wilderness memoir Pivot Point and the poetry collection Hastings-Sunrise, which was shortlisted for the Vancouver Book Award. She won the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize for her sequence Spell World Backwards, excerpts of which appear in The Work.
Chimwemwe Undi Receives Raymond Souster Award
Chimwemwe Undi won the Raymond Souster Award for Scientific Marvel, a vivid and provocative collection that reflects on the historical and contemporary realities of life in Winnipeg. With humour and insight, the book addresses racism, queerness, and colonial legacies through the lens of personal experience.
Scientific Marvel was also the recipient of the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry. Undi, a poet, editor, and lawyer, served as Winnipeg’s poet laureate from 2023 to 2024. Her accolades include the 2022 John Hirsch Emerging Writer Award, and her writing has appeared in publications such as Brick, Canadian Literature, and BBC World. She was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2020.
About the League of Canadian Poets
Founded to support and promote poetry across the country, the League of Canadian Poets advocates for the role of poetry in Canadian culture and offers professional development and recognition for poets. The organization’s annual awards are among the most prestigious in the Canadian literary community.
