The Writers’ Trust of Canada presents 2010 Dayne Ogilvie Grant to Nancy Jo Cullen

Poet Nancy Jo Cullen has won the 2010 Dayne Ogilvie Grant for best emerging gay writer in Canada, with honours of distinction presented to fiction writers Lisa Foad and George K. Ilsley. The jury was made up of writers Brian Francis and Suzette Myer, and grant founder Robin Pacific.

Cullen is the author of three books of poetry: Science Fiction Saint, Pearl, and Untitled Child, all published by Frontenac House. She has received an Alberta Book Publishing Award and was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for best first book of poetry, the Writers Guild of Alberta’s Stephan G. Steffanson Award for Poetry, and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize.

Established in 2007, the annual award is presented by the Writers’ Trust of Canada to an emerging gay or lesbian writer “who demonstrates great promise through a body of work of exceptional quality.” It is sponsored by donor Robin Pacific, in honour of her late best friend Dayne Ogilvie, an editor, writer, and passionate supporter of literature. The prizes will be presented at a ceremony during Pride Week in Toronto.

Event photos: Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Margaret Atwood, John English, and more at Politics and the Pen

On March 10, The Writers’ Trust of Canada held its Politics and the Pen fundraising dinner at Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier. At the event, author John English was presented with the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing (which is sponsored by CTVglobemedia) for the second volume of his Trudeau biography, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau: 1968–2000 (Knopf Canada). This year marks the 10th anniversary of the prize. (All photos by Jake Wright/Courtesy of The Writers’ Trust of Canada)

Justin Trudeau, federal MP and, obviously, son of the late subject of English’s prize-winning bio.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and his wife, Zsuzsanna Zsohar.

CBCers (former and current) Peter Mansbridge, Senator Pamela Wallin, and Don Newman.

Politics and the Pen co-chairs Patrick Kennedy and Charles King.

Laureen Harper (wife of PM Stephen) and Liberal MP Bob Rae. (You see? Books do bring people together.)

Clare Carey, wife of the British High Commissioner, Margaret Atwood, and Jacqueline LaRocque, manager of public policy at GlaxoSmithKline.

Former deputy PM (and the evening’s co-host) Anne McLellan abandons Ottawa air-kiss protocol and moves in to hug prize-winner John English while MP Jay Hill (the evening’s other host) either awaits his turn or looks on nervously.

Paul Quarrington, 1953–2010

Paul Quarrington has died. According to a post on his website [Note: This link is no longer active], the author and musician died at his home in Toronto early this morning:

Paul Quarrington’s brave battle with cancer is over. He passed peacefully at home in Toronto in the early hours this morning surrounded by friends and family. It is comforting to know that he didn’t suffer; he was calm and quiet holding hands with those who were closest to him. The past few days saw a rapid decline in his ability to breathe. More information will be made available shortly.

Quarrington was the author of some 10 novels, including the Governor General’s Literary Award-winning Whale Music, the Stephen Leacock Award-winning King Leary, the Giller Prize-nominated Galveston, and The Ravine. He was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last May and has since had a very public battle with the disease.

The past several years have seen a resurgence in interest in Quarrington’s life and work. Last fall, he was presented with the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Matt Cohen Award for lifetime achievement, and in 2007 2008 his novel King Leary won CBC’s Canada Reads.

In an April 2008 profile, Quarrington told Q&Q that he was experiencing a career high. “I’m sort of having the time of my life right now,” he said.

[UPDATE: A roundup of tributes to Quarrington has been posted on his official homepage.]

IFOA news: Geoffrey Taylor to receive honorary degree, Urquhart to read Munro

Geoffrey Taylor, director of Harbourfront’s Reading Series, is to receive an honorary degree from the School of Creative & Performing Arts at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Taylor, who has been with Harboufront Centre for 20 years, is being honoured for his contribution to the promotion of Canadian books and authors.

Over the last five years, Taylor has been responsible for the International Festival of Authors, has served as a jury member for both the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Awards, and has been an adviser to the Humber School for Writers. In 2008, Q&Q included him in a list of the most influential people in Canadian publishing.

Taylor will be presented with the degree at a ceremony on Nov. 7.

…

The IFOA has also confirmed the lineup for its second annual presentation of the Rogers Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize shortlist. For the reading on Oct. 28, the following authors will be reading:

• Douglas Coupland will read from Generation A
• Annabel Lyon will read from The Golden Mean
• Andrew Steinmetz will read from Eva’s Threepenny Theatre
• Jacqueline Larson will read from Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood’s English-language translations of Nicole Brossard’s Fences in Breathing
• Jane Urquhart will read from Alice Munro’s Too Much Happiness on behalf of Munro, who is unable to attend the event

The winner of the $25,000 award will be announced on Nov. 24 in Toronto.

“High in antioxidants, low on caffeine”: Leah McLaren weighs in on CanLit

Globe and Mail columnist Leah McLaren is the latest public figure to opine on the state of Can Lit. Prompted by this year’s awards season, McLaren takes the discussion one step further (or, perhaps backward) by flat-out refusing to read any nominated titles.

Beyond wondering who does Annabel Lyon’s hair and if Margaret Atwood is “pissed” by her exclusion from several major shortlists, McLaren simply cannot deign to read jury-selected books, voracious reader though she claims to be. Which, of course, more than qualifies her to weigh in on the subject.

In Saturday’s column, she cautions against the dangers of reading what “the man” tells you to:

[...] despite all the good that literary prizes provide — and I say this as a member of the Authors’ Committee of the Writers’ Trust of Canada — there is also an inherent danger in their increasing cultural primacy.

As one Canadian writer who did not want his name used recently said to me in an e-mail, the problem with prize lists is that they take something intimate and eclectic and turn it into a socially sanctioned Cultural Event.

“Reading — unlike multiplex movie-going, say — is inherently idiosyncratic,” he wrote. “Its idiosyncrasy is in its strength, the breadth of library and bookstore choices offering a feast of discoveries for the curious and story-hungry. Prizes, on the other hand, ultimately work to shape a vast plurality of tastes into a single, institutionally endorsed selection. The Giller is a successful venture, no question about it. But successful at what? Bringing new readers to exciting, boundary-pushing, pleasure-filled books? Or calcifying CanLit into a predictable brand?”

She also likens prize lists to high-school English curricula and the content of prison libraries. Given this year’s sombre selections, it could be argued that McLaren has a point. Besides, who better to judge the state of CanLit than the author of the “giggly, airy” Continuity Girl?

Paul Quarrington wins Matt Cohen Award

The Writers’ Trust of Canada has announced that this year’s recipient of the Matt Cohen Award is Paul Quarrington. The $20,000 award is given to a writer who has amassed a distinguished body of work.  Quarrington will be presented with the award at a celebration called “Paul Quarrington: A Life in Music, Words, and on Screen,” part of Harbourfront’s International Festival of Authors. The tribute, which is to be held on Oct. 24, includes speakers such as Margaret Atwood, Roddy Doyle, Alistair MacLeod, and Paul Gross, as well as a performance by the Rheostatics (who will reunite for the event) and Quarrington’s own band, Porkbelly Futures.

Quarrington, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last May, wrote candidly about his health and his reaction to the diagnosis in this weekend’s National Post:

Entering the doctor’s office in early May, I was prepared for pretty dire news. After all, a week earlier they had drained seven litres of fluid from around my lungs. In the intervening days, I’d been doing some bartering with the Almighty (“I’ll take throat cancer for ten!”) but it availed me not, the diagnosis was as dire as they come: lung cancer, stage four. There is no stage five, at least not in cancer-speak, although I guess stage five is really the launching into the great unknown.

Munro, Coupland get Writers’ Trust nods

The shortlists for the 2009 Writers’ Trust prizes were announced at Ben McNally Books in Toronto this morning. The nominees are:

The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize ($25,000):

• Nicole Brossard, Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, trans., Fences in Breathing (Coach House Books)
• Douglas Coupland, Generation A (Random House Canada)
• Annabel Lyon, The Golden Mean (Random House Canada)
• Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness (McClelland & Stewart)
• Andrew Steinmetz, Eva’s Threepenny Theatre (Gaspereau Press)

(Jurors: Marina Endicott, Miriam Toews, R.M. Vaughan)

The Writers’ Trust Non-fiction Prize ($25,000):

• Brian Brett, Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life (Greystone Books)
• Wade Davis, The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World (House of Anansi Press)
• Trevor Herriot, Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds (HarperCollins Canada)
• Erika Ritter, The Dog by the Cradle, the Serpent Beneath: Some Paradoxes of Human-Animal Relationships (Key Porter Books)
• Eric Siblin, The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece (House of Anansi Press)

(Jurors: Tim Bowling, Anne Hart, Bruce Meyer)

The Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize ($10,000):

• Daniel Griffin, “The Last Great Works of Alvin Cale” (The Dalhousie Review)
• Dave Margoshes, “The Wisdom of Solomon” (The Dalhousie Review)
• Yasuko Thanh, “Floating like the Dead” (Vancouver Review)

(Jurors: Camilla Gibb, Lee Henderson, Rebecca Rosenblum)

Photos from the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award

Last night, the winner of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers was announced. This being the first year the award is sponsored by the RBC Foundation, the ceremony was held, appropriately enough, in the 40th floor reception suite of the RBC building on Toronto’s Bay Street. Below are some photos from the event.

Marjorie Celona (back to camera), whose story “Othello” won this year’s award, is congratulated by judges Michelle Berry and Andrew Pyper. (The third judge, Natalee Caple, was unable to attend the event.)

(More photos after the fold…)

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