Nova Scotia–based writer Bill Conall has won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour for The Promised Land: A Novel of Cape Breton. This is the second time in recent years that a self-published novel has claimed the prize; Terry Fallis won in 2008 for The Best Laid Plans, which was subsequently picked up by McClelland & Stewart. Conall’s first book, 2009’s The Rock in the Water (Hidden Brook Press) was nominated for the Leacock in 2010.

This year’s other shortlisted titles were:

• Arthur Black, Fifty Shades of Black (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Jane Christmas, And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life (Greystone Books)
• Wayne Johnston, The Son of a Certain Woman (Knopf Canada)
• Steve Smith, Red Green’s Beginner’s Guide to Women (Doubleday Canada)

Conall will receive his silver medal and $15,000 prize, furnished by TD Bank Financial Group, at a gala dinner on June 7 in Orillia, Ontario.