Acclaimed author Tim Bowling, originally from Ladner and now living in Edmonton, is no stranger to book awards.
His work has garnered numerous prizes and honours, including the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for poetry, the CAA Award for Poetry, the Petra Kenney International Poetry Prize and two Governor General's Literary Award nominations. But it's unusual to be short listed for the same award eight times in only 14 years.
Last week Bowling was named a finalist for the 2014 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize for his latest book, Selected Poems, the eighth time he has been nominated for this particular award.
With Selected Poems, Bowling has gathered together his finest work, a selection including poetry from his debut collection, Low Water Slack, to his 10th collection, Tenderman (2011).
The collection is unabashedly musical, image-rich and ambitious; poems of childhood, family, death, and the pleasures and rigours of art lead into ever-deeper explorations of history, society and middle age, but the faith in the power of language to convey something essential about life remains consistent.
The winner will be announced on April 28.
