Winnipeg Michif poet katherena vermette is a finalist for one of this year’s prizes from the League of Canadian Poets.

Vermette’s collection Procession, published by House of Anansi in 2025, is among the contenders for the Pat Lowther award for a book of poetry by a woman.

The winner of each of the three prizes wins $2,000, with an online reading taking place Tuesday at 7 p.m. and the winners announced Wednesday. For a list of finalists and more infomation on viewing the online reading, see poets.ca/shortlist-2026.

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In her latest book, Save Your Prayers — Send Money (Talonbooks, 107 pages, $20), Jónína Kirton writes a layered, lyric map of chronic illness, race and the pitfalls of New Age avenues to healing.

While these poems and prose pieces are rooted in Kirton’s own family and history, she draws on these experiences to express solidarity with others, namely with other people with chronic illness and their caregivers, as well as the Palestinian survivors of genocide in Gaza.

In the cost of living, Kirton enumerates the costs of chronic illness: “chronic pain = more pain,” she writes, “shall we begin at the bottom/ work our way up …// these feet weren’t made for walking/ fallen arches arthritis in big toes/ orthotics: $530 plus.”

Each of the listed costs, not covered by public health insurance, adds an increasing burden on those with chronic illnesses. Coupled with the attitude of, “If you can’t afford the treatments, there is disdain,” Kirton makes the argument that “we need practical support, not prayers or suggestions shouted from the safety of the shore.

The summer months may be relatively quiet for book launches and related events, but this coming week sees a raft of author events taking place.

McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location welcomes Australian author Janey Stone to the bookstore tonight at 7 p.m. for the launch of The Radical Jewish Tradition: Revolutionaries, Resistance Fighters and Firebrands, which she co-authored with Donny Gluckstein.

The event, co-presented by the Winnipeg chapters of the United Jewish People’s Order and Independent Jewish Voices, will see Stone speak about the book (published May 19 by Verso Books) before being joined in conversation by Winnipeg authors Harriet Zaidman and Tami Gadir.

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