Saskatchewan-born Karen Solie wins T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize

By Canadian Press on January 20, 2026.

Saskatchewan-born poet Karen Solie has won the prestigious T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize for her collection “Wellwater.”

Solie was announced as the winner of the U.K. award at a ceremony in London on Monday night.

The judges praise her collection for balancing the beauty and horrors of the world, “with an ironic humour that plays over our increasingly euphemism-hungry culture.”

The prize is worth 25,000 pounds, or roughly C$45,000.

Solie’s collection “Pigeon” won the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2010, and she was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot award in 2019 for “The Caiplie Caves.”

Solie is the first Canadian to win the prize since Anne Carson in 2001.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press