Three Canadian books recognized at international design awards

Three Canadian books have been recognized by Stiftung Buchkunst, organizers of the international book design competition held annually at the Leipzig Book Fair in Germany.

Marvin Harder, designer of Relations on Southeastern Hudson Bay by Toby Morantz (Avataq Cultural Institute); Emmelyne Pornillos and Laurie Castilloux-Bouchard, designers of The Conservation, Restoration and Repair of Stringed Instruments and Their Bows, edited by Tom Wilder and Aurèle Parisien (IPCI-Canada); and Jessica Sullivan and Naomi MacDougall, designers of The Little Hummingbird by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, were among those shortlisted for 14 awards, selected from 540 titles submitted from 31 countries.

Copies of the three titles have been donated to the German Book and Type Museum in Leipzig.

Wilfrid Laurier, Toronto, McGill-Queen’s university presses recognized at Canada Awards

Authors published with Wilfrid Laurier University Press, University of Toronto Press, and McGill-Queen’s University Press are among the recipients of the 2012 Canada Awards.

The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences presented the annual prizes, which recognize the best English- and French-language scholarly works published through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Program, at a ceremony in Montreal last week. Each winning author was awarded $2,500.

The winners, described by CFHSS president Graham Carr as “valuable contributions to the body of knowledge about Canada,” are:

Social Sciences
Veronica Strong-Boag, Fostering Nation? Canada Confronts Its History of Childhood Disadvantage (WLUP)
Michel Ducharme, Le concept de liberté au Canada à l’époque des Révolutions atlantiques, 1776–1838 (MQUP)

Humanities
Susan R. Fisher, Boys and Girls in No Man’s Land: English-Canadian Children and the First World War (UPT)
Louise Vigneault, Espace artistique et modèle pionnier: Tom Thomson et Jean-Paul Riopelle (Hurtubise)

Esi Edugyan and Patrick deWitt nominated for Walter Scott Prize

Esi Edugyan and Patrick deWitt will go head-to-head once again, this time for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, a U.K. literary award established in 2010.

Last year, the duo dominated the Canadian award circuit. Edugyan won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen Publishers) and deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers (House of Anansi Press) took the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Literary Award. Both were shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize, but lost to Julian Barnes.

The Canadian authors are up against Barry Unsworth’s The Quality of Mercy, Sebastian Barry’s On Canaan’s Side, Alan Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child, and Andrew Miller’s Pure.

According to The Guardian, the Walter Scott Prize jury, composed of author and historian Alistair Moffat and television presenter Kristy Wark, is seeking “the ability of a book to shed light on the present as well as the past.”

The winner receives £25,000, and will be announced on June 16, at the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland.

Alcuin Society names best Canadian book design for 2011

The Alcuin Society has announced the winners of the 30th annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The 35 winning titles will be presented in a cross-country travelling exhibition and will also be exhibited at the Frankfurt and Leipzig book fairs in Germany and at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, in conjunction with the Tokyo International Book Fair.

Jury members Stan Bevington, Ingrid Paulson, and Bonne Zabolotney selected the winners from 252 entries submitted by 103 publishers. Awards will be presented this fall at events in Toronto and Vancouver.

This year’s winners are:

CHILDREN
First prize: Michael Solomon, A Few Blocks by Cybèle Young (Groundwood Books)
Second prize: Marie-Ève Boisvert, Billy Stuart by Alain M. Bergeron; Sampar, illus. (Éditions Michel Quintin)
Third prize: Teresa Bubela, Wellington’s Rainy Day by Carolyn Beck; Brooke Kerrigan, illus. (Orca Book Publishers)
Honourable mention: Michael Solomon, City Numbers by Joanne Schwartz; Matt Beam, photog. (Groundwood)

LIMITED EDITIONS
First prize (tie): Michael Torosian, Steichen: Eduard et Voulangis by Michael Torosian and Howard Greenberg (Lumiere Press); Nicolas Ménard, Colorimétrie by Nicolas Ménard (Nicolas Ménard); Elizabeth Beaudoin, Book of Poetry by Elizabeth Beaudoin (Elizabeth Beaudoin)
Honourable mentions: George Walker, The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson (George A. Walker); Emanuel Cohen, PTTx Archive & Correspondance (Emanuel Cohen)

PICTORIAL
First prize: Jessica Sullivan, Kesu’: The Art and Life of Doug Cranmer by Jennifer Kramer (Douglas & McIntyre)
Second prize: Peter Cocking, Fred Herzog: Photographs (D&M)
Third prize: Nicole Lafond, Richard-Max Tremblay. Portrait by André Lamarre (les éditions du passage)
Honourable mention: Jennifer Lum, Two Generals by Scott Chantler (McClelland & Stewart)

POETRY
First prize: Andrew Steeves, Curious Masonry by Christopher Patton (Gaspereau)
Second prize: Leah Springate, Folk by Jacob McArthur Mooney (M&S)
Third prize: Mark Goldstein, Killdeer by Phil Hall (BookThug)
Honourable mentions: Marvin Harder, Wild Horses by rob mclennan (University of Alberta Press); Andrew Steeves, Incitements by Sean Howard (Gaspereau)

PROSE FICTION
First prize: Peter Cocking, The Man Who Killed by Fraser Nixon (D&M)
Second prize: CS Richardson, Natural Order by Brian Francis (Doubleday Canada)
Third prize (tie): CS Richardson, Various Positions by Martha Schabas (Doubleday Canada); Leigh-Anne Mullock, Tubers by Mark Jowett; Matthias Lechner, illus. (Read Leaf)
Honourable mentions: Marike Paradis, À toi by Kim Thúy and Pascal Janovjak (Libre Expression); Peter Cocking, The Return by Dany Laferrière (D&M)

PROSE NON-FICTION
First prize: Underline Studio, Blast Counterblast, Anthony Elms and Steve Reinke, ed. (Whitewalls)
Second prize: Jessica Sullivan, King by Allan Levine (D&M)
Third prize: Alan Brownoff, The Sasquatch at Home: Traditional Protocols & Modern Storytelling by Eden Robinson (UAP)
Honourable mention: Andrew Steeves, The Shell of the Tortoise by Don McKay (Gaspereau)

PROSE NON-FICTION ILLUSTRATED
First prize: Roberto Dosil, Selling Canada: Three Propaganda Campaigns that Shaped the Nation by Daniel Francis (Stanton Atkins & Dosil)
Second prize: Jessica Sullivan, Undesirables by Ali Kazimi (D&M)
Third prize: Naomi Macdougall, Prairie: A Natural History by Candace Savage (Greystone)
Honourable mention: Derek Barnett, Vancouver Anthology, Stan Douglas, ed. (Talonbooks)

REFERENCE
First prize: Diane Robertson, Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery, Leanne Prain (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Second prize: Jeff Kulak, Learn to Speak series, Ann-Marie Williams and John Crossingham; ed. (Owlkids Books)
Third prize: Mike Mouland, Republic of Doyle: The Definitive Guide to Doyle: Seasons One & Two, by Kerri MacDonald (Flanker Press)

Click through the slideshow to see covers of the first-prize titles.

Gerald Lampert and Pat Lowther shortlists revealed

Shortlists for the annual Gerald Lampert and the Pat Lowther Memorial awards were announced last night at a League of Canadian Poets’ event in Toronto.

Calgary poet Rosemary Griebel’s first book, Yes. (Frontenac House), is nominated for both the Lampert Award, which recognizes the best debut poetry collection published by a Canadian, and the Lowther Award, presented to a book of poetry published by a Canadian woman.

The Gerald Lampert Award shortlisted books are:

• True, Kirsty Elliot (Leaf Press)
• Yes., Rosemary Griebel (Frontenac House)
• Paramita, Little Black, Suzanne Robertson (Guernica Editions)
• Do Not Call Me By My Name, Lisa Shatzky (Black Moss Press)
• Sweet Devilry, Yi-Mei Tsiang (Oolichan Books)
• Gulf, Leslie Vryenhoek (Oolichan)

The jury for the Lampert Award is Ronnie R. Brown, Dennis Cooley, and Wendy Morton.

The Pat Lowther Award shortlisted books are:

• A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth, Stephanie Bolster (Brick Books)
• Small Mechanics, Lorna Crozier (McClelland & Stewart)
• outskirts, Sue Goyette (Brick)
• Yes., Rosemary Griebel (Frontenac House)
• Groundwork, Amanda Jernigan (Biblioasis)
• Forge, Jan Zwicky (Gaspereau Press)

The jury for the Lowther Award is Katherine Bitney, Sarah Klassen, and Nela Rio.

Winners of both awards, worth $1,000 each, will be announced June 16 at the LCP Poetry Fest and Conference, held in Saskatoon.

Rosemary Griebel reading at the Calgary Spoken Word Festival in March 2011.

Trio of young women nominated for 2012 Bronwen Wallace Award

The Writers’ Trust of Canada has announced the finalists for this year’s RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, which recognizes writers under the age of 35 who’ve yet to publish in book form, and alternates annually between short fiction and poetry. The winner is awarded $5,000 and the other nominees receive $1,000.

Not only are all three fiction writers on this year’s shortlist women, they’re also graduates of or current students at a Canadian MFA program in creative writing. The nominated authors are:

• Dina Del Bucchia, “Under the ‘I’”
• Kathy Friedman, “At the Bottom of the Garden”
• Jen Neale, “Elk-Headed Man”

Jurors Alexander MacLeod, Johanna Skibsrud, and Madeleine Thíen selected the finalists from 110 submissions. Alissa York, who won the prize in 1999 — the same year Thíen was nominated — will present the award in Toronto on May 2.

The shortlisted stories are available as free downloads through Apple’s iBookstore.

Finalists for $50,000 Donner Prize announced

Allan Gotlieb, chair of the Donner Canadian Foundation, revealed the shortlist for this year’s $50,000 Donner Prize. The four nominated books on public policy by Canadian authors touch on inclusivity in museum practices, obesity and global public health, Constitutional reform, and immigration policy for skilled workers.

The finalists for the 14th annual award are:

• Museum Pieces: Toward the Indigenization of Canadian Museums, Ruth B. Phillips (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
• XXL: Obesity and the Limits of Shame, Neil Seeman and Patrick Luciani (University of Toronto Press)
• Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government, Peter Aucoin, Mark D. Jarvis, and Lori Turnbull (Emond Montgomery Publications)
• Toward Improving Canada’s Skilled Immigration Policy: An Evaluation Approach, Charles M. Beach, Alan G. Green, and Christopher Worswick (C.D. Howe Institute)

The winner will be named at an awards ceremony in Toronto on May 1. Each runner-up will receive $7,500. In the past, the prize has been presented to Doug Saunders (Arrival City, 2010) and Brian Bow (The Politics of Linkage, 2009).

Patrick deWitt shortlisted for Leacock Memorial Medal

Patrick deWitt’s comedic Western novel, The Sisters Brothers (House of Anansi Press), has been nominated for the 2012 Leacock Memorial Medal for humour writing, less than a week after it won  The Morning News’ Tournament of Books.

Last fall, deWitt won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Literary Award. He was also shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Man Booker Prize.

The five Leacock nominees are:

• Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (Anansi)
• Rupinder Gill, On the Outside, Looking Indian: How My Second Childhood Changed My Life (McClelland & Stewart)
• Susan Juby, The Woefield Poultry Collective (HarperCollins Canada)
• Shari Lapeña, Happiness Economics (Brindle & Glass)
• Robyn Michele Levy, Most of Me: Surviving My Medical Meltdown (Greystone Books)

The winner of the $15,000 prize will be announced at the award gala on June 9.

Bloody Words convention announces finalists for inaugural “light mystery” prize

Bloody Words, Canada’s largest convention of mystery fiction, has revealed the shortlist for its first annual Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award, a prize recognizing mystery novels that soften the gore, violence, and sex typical of the genre in favour of a more lighthearted tone.

The wide-ranging shortlist includes a volume from an internationally published series, a story about a put-upon Floridian bartender, an Arthur Ellis–winning paranormal debut, a novel featuring a rogue 911 operator, and the first book in a sewing-themed series.

The nominated books are:

• Alan Bradley, A Red Herring without Mustard (Doubleday Canada)
• Phyllis Smallman, Champagne for Buzzards (McArthur & Company)
• Gloria Ferris, Cheat the Hangman (Imajin Books)
• Mary Jane Maffini, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder (Berkley Prime Crime)
• Janet Bolin, Dire Threads (Berkley Prime Crime)

The jury will present writers with the $1,000 prize at the Bloody Words XII banquet in Toronto on June 2.

Don McKay wins BMO Winterset Award

Last week, Don McKay’s The Shell of the Tortoise (Gaspereau Press) became the first ever essay collection to win the $10,000 BMO Winterset Award.

On March 22, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council presented the prize to McKay, who was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, and now calls St. John’s home.

The jury — made up of Noreen Golfman, Kevin Major, and Lisa Moore — selected McKay’s collection because it “gets at something very fresh, very intelligent and very accessible,” Moore told The Telegram. “[H]e’s also really witty — those essays keep you awake. … He’s got a kind of sensitivity to his reading audience about very difficult ideas. He’s talking about science, but bringing science into line with poetry, and none of us had ever read anything like that.”

Finalists Edward Riche, nominated for Easy to Like (House of Anansi Press), and Mark Callanan, nominated for Gift Horse (Signal Editions), both received $2,500.

The Winterset Award celebrates writing by authors from Newfoundland and Labrador. Journalist Richard Gwyn founded the prize in 2000 to commemorate his late wife, author Sandra Fraser Gwyn.