The winters of the 2013 Atlantic Book Awards were announced Thursday night in a ceremony held at Alderney Gate Theatre in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. CBC Radio’s Louise Renault hosted the sold-out event, with books representing the wide range of literary works being produced in Atlantic Canada—from traditional novels to cutting edge fiction; thought-provoking non-fiction and deeply researched books on Atlantic Canadian history, to poetry; and illustrated children’s picture books to novels written for teens and young adults. There was special recognition for the Dartmouth Book Awards – celebrating their 25thanniversary in 2013 – and a new award, the Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing, was presented for the first time.
The ten award-winning books and authors/illustrators are:
1. Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
Live to Tell, by Lisa Harrington, published by Dancing Cat Books
2. Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
Sponsored by Friesens Corporation
The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini by Bruce MacNab,
published by Goose Lane Editions
3. Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing,
Sponsored by Marquis Book Printing (new award, inaugural winner)
The Ocean Ranger: Remaking the Promise of Oil by Susan Dodd, published by Fernwood Publishing
4. Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction in Memory of Robbie Robertson
Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth
French Taste in Atlantic Canada 1604-1758: A Gastronomic History/
Le goût français au Canada atlantique 1604-1758 : une histoire gastronomique
by Anne Marie Lane Jonah and Chantal Véchambre, published by Cape Breton University Press
5. Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing
In Search of R.B. Bennett, by P.B. Waite, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press
6. E.J. Pratt Poetry Award (one of the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards)
Presented by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador in partnership with the Literary Arts Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
Paradoxides by Don McKay, published by McClelland & Stewart
7. Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction), presented by Boyne Clarke
Anna from Away, by D.R. MacDonald, published by HarperCollins Canada Ltd.
8. Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration
I is for Island: A Prince Edward Island Alphabet, illustrated by Brenda Jones, written by Hugh MacDonald, published by Sleeping Bear Press
9. Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
Dirty Bird by Keir Lowther, published by Tightrope Books
10. Rogers Communications Award for Non-Fiction (part of the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards)
Presented by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador in partnership with the Literary Arts Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
In The Field, by Joan Sullivan, published by Breakwater Books
About the Awards:
Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
The impetus for this $2,000 award came from the late Ann Connor Brimer who was a strong advocate of Canadian children’s literature and saw the need to recognize and encourage children’s writers in Atlantic Canada.
The shortlisted titles for 2013:
Live to Tell
By Lisa Harrington
Publisher: Dancing Cat Books
Kamakwie: Finding Peace, Love, and Injustice in Sierra Leone
By Kathleen Martin
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Enemy Territory
By Sharon E. McKay
Publisher: Annick Press
APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
Sponsored by Friesens Corporation
The Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s award for Best Atlantic-Published Book recognizes publishing companies and their hardworking professionals who bring out new books each season. Each year, a publisher whose book possesses the best balance of content, presentation, quality of design and production, as well as contributing the most to an understanding of Atlantic Canada, receives the award. The first prize of $5,000 (sponsored by Friesens) is shared between the winning publishing firm ($4,000) and the book’s author ($1,000), with each of the other two short-listed authors receiving $250. The 2013 shortlisted titles:
Grandma Says
By Cindy Day
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Riptides: New Island Fiction
Edited by Richard Lemm
Publisher: Acorn Press
The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini
By Bruce MacNab
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing
Sponsored by Marquis Book Printing
A new award, presented for the first time in 2013 by the Atlantic Book Awards Society. The 2013 shortlisted books are:
The Ocean Ranger: Remaking the Promise of Oil
By Susan Dodd
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
A History of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic to 1818
By Shannon Ryan
Publisher: Flanker Press
The Language of This Land, Mi’kma’ki
By Trudy Sable and Bernie Francis
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press
Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction in Memory of Robbie Robertson,
Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth
The Dartmouth Book Awards were established in 1989 by then mayor of Dartmouth, Dr. John Savage. The annual awards for fiction and non-fiction, valued at $1,500 each, honour the best books published the previous year in celebration of Nova Scotia and its people. The shortlisted 2013 titles are:
The Village of My Heart’s Mistake: An Acadian Life
By Denise Cormier
Publisher: Encompass Editions
Nova Scotia’s Historic Rivers: The Waterways that Shaped the Province
By Joan Dawson
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
French Taste in Atlantic Canada 1604-1758: A Gastronomic History/
Le goût français au Canada Atlantique 1604-1758: Une histoire gastronomique
By Anne Marie Lane Jonah and Chantal Véchambre
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press
Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing
The Atlantic Book Awards Society created the Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing and received an endowment from the Democracy 250 committee to fund the $2,000 annual prize for an outstanding work of non-fiction that promotes awareness of, and appreciation for, an aspect of the history of the Atlantic Provinces.
The 2013 shortlisted titles are:
Haunted Girl: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery
By Laurie Glenn Norris with Barbara Thompson
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Master and Madman: The Surprising Rise and Disastrous Fall of the Hon Anthony Lockwood RN
By Peter Thomas and Nicholas Tracy
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
In Search of R.B. Bennett
By P.B. Waite
Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press
E.J. Pratt Poetry Award
The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are co-presented by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Literary Arts Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, under the distinguished patronage of The Honourable John C. Crosbie, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is the seventeenth consecutive year for the biennial awards, which cover a two-calendar-year publishing period. The pairings are Children’s/Young Adult Literature and Fiction in one year and Poetry and Non-fiction the next year. The winning author receives $1,500 and each runner-up receives $500. The Award is sponsored by the KA Pratt Group of Companies. The 2013 shortlisted titles are:
Gift Horse
By Mark Callanan
Publisher: Signal Editions/Véhicule Press
Paradoxides
By Don McKay
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Whiteout
By George Murray
Publisher: ECW Press
Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction), presented by Boyne Clarke
The Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award for fiction is sponsored by Boyne Clarke Barristers and Solicitors. Dartmouth lawyer and activist Jim Connors was a volunteer juror of the fiction entries from the outset of the annual competitions until his death from cancer in 2008. The 2013 shortlisted titles are:
The Rest is Silence
By Scott Fotheringham
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
Anna From Away
By D.R. MacDonald
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers Limited
The Deception of Livvy Higgs
By Donna Morrissey
Publisher: Viking Canada
Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration
Lillian Shepherd was a long-time buyer for the now-closed independent bookstore, The Book Room in Halifax. This award was established by her many friends to applaud the book that combines Lillian’s love for illustrated children’s books and her affinity for locally produced work. The award that bears her name is sponsored by the Atlantic Independent Booksellers’ Association and the Atlantic Provinces Publishers’ Representatives. The 2013 short-listed titles are:
Driftwood Dragons and Other Seaside Poems
By Tyne Brown
Illustrated by Tamara Thiebaux Heikalo (nominee)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
I is for Island: A Prince Edward Island Alphabet
By Hugh MacDonald
Illustrated by Brenda Jones (nominee)
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Toes In My Nose and Other Poems
By Sheree Fitch
Illustrated by Sydney Smith (nominee)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, presented for the first time in 2003 with a value of $1,500, recognizes the best first book of fiction or non-fiction published in the previous year by an Atlantic writer. The Award is sponsored by The Savage Family, Collins Barrow Chartered Accountants, Weed Man and Heritage House Law Office. The 2013 shortlisted titles are:
High-Water Mark
By Nicole Dixon
Publisher: The Porcupine’s Quill
Dirty Bird
By Keir Lowther
Publisher: Tightrope Books
Braco
By Lesleyanne Ryan
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Rogers Communications Award for Non-fiction
The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are co-presented by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Literary Arts Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, under the distinguished patronage of The Honourable John C. Crosbie, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is the sixteenth consecutive year for the biennial awards, which cover a two-calendar-year publishing period. The pairings are Children’s/Young Adult Literature and Fiction in one year and Poetry and Non-fiction the next year. The winning author receives $1,500 and each runner-up receives $500. The 2013 shortlisted titles are:
The Other Side of Midnight: Taxicab Stories
By Mike Heffernan
Publisher: Creative Book Publishing
Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland’s Confederation with Canada
By Greg Malone
Publisher: Knopf Canada
In the Field
By Joan Sullivan
Publisher: Breakwater Books
About the Atlantic Book Awards Society
The Board of the non-profit Atlantic Book Awards Society (ABAS) is made up of representatives of the Atlantic Canadian book and writing community. The 2013 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage and Access Copyright, and the sponsorship of Chapters-Indigo, the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, Advocate Printing, The Chronicle Herald, The Telegram, The Guardian, and The Telegraph-Journal.
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Media contact: Peggy Walt – peggy@culturalaffairs.ca (902) 422-5403
Web Site: www.atlanticbookawards.ca
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/atlbookawards
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