Canada's most prestigious award was announced last night and the winner is Ottawa resident, Elizabeth Hay and her book: Late Nights on Air. Her work of fiction is based on her experience as a late-night radio personality at the CBC in Yellowknife.
Info about last night's ceremony is here.
The book is described as "'a flawlessly crafted and timeless story, masterfully told'. Late Nights on Air triumphed over a record 108 books submitted by 46 publishers." You can get it here.
Showing posts with label Award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Award. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
Breaking News AlertThe New York TimesThursday, October 11, 2007 -- 7:14 AM ET-----
Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
The Swedish Academy said that the 87-year-old British author"has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny" with"skepticism, fire and visionary power."
Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na
Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
The Swedish Academy said that the 87-year-old British author"has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny" with"skepticism, fire and visionary power."
Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The Blogger Reflection Award
Stephen Parrish has tagged me, among others, to receive this reflection award. He refers to me as the best activist and provocateur.I've never been called either -- at least to my face and I love it! So, thank you Stephen.
Now, because I am a total nerd, I had to look into the origin of the award and here it is... the irony that a group of (relatively) left wingers, and (at least mostly) non-Christian group of bloggers has been given this award is hilarious. (Yes, I do have a weird sense of humour, but you've gotta read why this award was created.)
The Blogger Reflection Award was created by a 16-year-old homeschooler (of course, it would be a homeschooler, but don't get me started) named Jocelyn because The Thinking Blogger Award was hosted by a site that posted "secular" and "ungodly" ideas. (Why is it that Christians are so afraid of thought? Don't answer that; it's rhetorical. But I digress.)
In Jocelyn's own words here's her blurb on her award: "As for my award, it is called The Blogger Reflection Award. Why? The reason for the title is because this award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy... of knowing them and being blessed by them."
However, I will not let this dampen my appreciation at receiving this award in the spirit (not Spirit) it was intended! So, here I tag five blogs that give me cause for reflection.
1) Stephen Parrish: Back at you Steve! Since there are no rules that say I can't pass the torch back to you, I do so. I love that you are fearless and have a healthy desire to stir things up.
2) Anne Mini: Who gives so much good advice to all us new writers, helping us navigate a system that we'd never otherwise manage.
3) Gail Lethbridge: Who makes me laugh whenever I check her blog. She's funny, irreverent, and she didn't trash Toronto when she visited.
4) John Kauffman: Who shares his life and his concern over U.S. policies with such heartfelt angst that I learn humility and compassion from him.
5) Becca: This is an honorary blogger award because she doesn't operate her blog anymore. (However, she does participate in the blogger community -- I'm sure her boss is delighted!)Becca is the single-most supportive person I've ever come across. She is a wonderful best friend helping me though the dark days of writing, relationships and parenting. I only hope I do the same for her.
Thanks to all of you who make my days better ones -- even though you may not know it.
Colleen
P.S. For my honorees, I neglected to mention that your task, should you accept, is to tag five others with the award. Remember these have to be blogs that make you reflect.
P.P.S. If anyone knows how I can get rid of strange spacing problems every time I post a photo or link, please let me know.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Scotch River
I have an other Atlantic Book Award winner to share with you, Scotch River by Linda Little.
Her prose is dark and breathtaking.
One of the things I enjoy about this book is the entrance of Cass Hutt, rodeo cowboy, into the small fishing village of Scotch River NS. Placing someone so obviously from away into the lives of an extraordinarily dysfunctional family allows the author to show that sometimes the things that make us different are, indeed, that things that unite us.
He finds a cast of characters so unable to communicate with each other, they wrap themselves in pain and solitude, brandishing each as badges of honour. If Cass is to find himself, he has to be able to make sense of these people and discover his connection to them.
Here are the opening words:
"Cass Hutt could not feel the land beneath his feet. Stone-cold sober and reeling around on nothing as though his flesh speckled out into air, as though ghost legs propped him up. He pulled off his boots at night and ran his hands down his calves, feeling skin on skin, seeking to reassure himself..."
Read the first chapter and buy the book through Penguin Canada.
Or you can buy it here.
Her prose is dark and breathtaking.
One of the things I enjoy about this book is the entrance of Cass Hutt, rodeo cowboy, into the small fishing village of Scotch River NS. Placing someone so obviously from away into the lives of an extraordinarily dysfunctional family allows the author to show that sometimes the things that make us different are, indeed, that things that unite us.
Illiterate and nearly amnesiac Cass, with only a deed to an unknown bit of land to guide him, walks from Alberta to Nova Scotia searching for his identity and something to ground him after his rodeo partner dies.
He finds a cast of characters so unable to communicate with each other, they wrap themselves in pain and solitude, brandishing each as badges of honour. If Cass is to find himself, he has to be able to make sense of these people and discover his connection to them.
Here are the opening words:
"Cass Hutt could not feel the land beneath his feet. Stone-cold sober and reeling around on nothing as though his flesh speckled out into air, as though ghost legs propped him up. He pulled off his boots at night and ran his hands down his calves, feeling skin on skin, seeking to reassure himself..."
Read the first chapter and buy the book through Penguin Canada.
Or you can buy it here.
I hope you enjoy Linda's book as much as I did.
Colleen
Monday, June 25, 2007
The Quill Blog
I've just stumbled upon The Quill and Quire's blogsite. (A shining example of why I need to eschew blogland periodically -- I can spend way too much time here.)
Anyway, the postings are smart and funny and I wanted to share one with you. It's about the coveted (by at least some) Giller Prize: Secrets of the Canadian Literary Cabal.
"Stephen Henighan, known for his biting, if occasionally conspiracy-minded, commentary on the Canadian literary scene, takes aim at the Scotiabank Giller Prize in this column for Geist. Henighan calls the prize a symptom of the sickness ruining literature, saying, 'Nothing signaled the collapse of the literary organism as vividly as the appearance of this glitzy chancre on the hide of our culture.'”
He goes on to say that Margaret Atwood calls the Giller shots and that almost all prize winners between 1994 and 2004 lived within two hours of Bloor and Yonge.
As a rebuttal, Giller Prize administrator, Elana Rabinovitch reminded us of Mordecai Richler's prescience "when he stated, at the launch of The Giller Prize almost 14 years ago, that 'when you give Canadians an apple, they look for the razor blade inside'”.
Thank you, Mordecai, wherever you are.
Colleen
Anyway, the postings are smart and funny and I wanted to share one with you. It's about the coveted (by at least some) Giller Prize: Secrets of the Canadian Literary Cabal.
"Stephen Henighan, known for his biting, if occasionally conspiracy-minded, commentary on the Canadian literary scene, takes aim at the Scotiabank Giller Prize in this column for Geist. Henighan calls the prize a symptom of the sickness ruining literature, saying, 'Nothing signaled the collapse of the literary organism as vividly as the appearance of this glitzy chancre on the hide of our culture.'”
He goes on to say that Margaret Atwood calls the Giller shots and that almost all prize winners between 1994 and 2004 lived within two hours of Bloor and Yonge.
As a rebuttal, Giller Prize administrator, Elana Rabinovitch reminded us of Mordecai Richler's prescience "when he stated, at the launch of The Giller Prize almost 14 years ago, that 'when you give Canadians an apple, they look for the razor blade inside'”.
Thank you, Mordecai, wherever you are.
Colleen
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Chapters and The Atlantic Book Festival
June 10, 2007
Heather Reisman
CEO
Indigo Books & Music Inc.,
468 King Street West, Suite 500
Toronto, ON M5V 1L8
Dear Ms. Reisman:
I confess to being a fiction junkie. I buy novels by the armful. That being the case, I spend a lot of time in your stores. In short, I am the kind of consumer that you should love.
Imagine my dismay upon entering a Chapters book store today, mere weeks after the Atlantic Book Festival, to find that the winners of said Festival all but ignored. Perhaps this would have been merely a sad statement on the book business if I lived in Toronto or Vancouver, but I live in Halifax -- arguably the center of the Atlantic universe.
Was it naive of me to expect more from a company that claims to want to "create a true book lovers' haven -- a place to discover books, music and more that might, in the rush of life, have gone undiscovered. A place that reflects the best of a small proprietor-run shop bundled with the selection of a true emporium?"
I think not.
Let me paint you a picture of the ignoble way your company has treated these wonderful authors.
As I walked in the front doors, I was greeted by King for a Day, a display of books for dad. Well, fair enough. It is almost Father's Day, after all. To the left was a display called Outdoor Living. To the right was Oprah's pick, Middlesex, and Kaled Hosseini's newest release, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Maybe the display behind that, I thought. But no. That was for New and Hot Fiction, which, apparently, the books that won the Atlantic Awards are not. Next were books on magic in the Waiting for Harry section. Then Heather's Pick's, sadly the winning or shortlisted books weren't there either. Halfway down the centre aisle was a display of Former Best Sellers, then Current Events. Located to the right of these were the Books with Buzz. There, I thought. That's were I'll find them. I was wrong again.
Behind the Books with Buzz was a section named Local Interest. Hmmm, I thought, that's usually local history, geography that sort of thing but I'll look. I scanned the front shelves, walked around to the back, scanning, scanning. And there, on the middle set of shelves at the bottom were 29 adult titles written by Atlantic authors. A few were even from the Festival Short List although one would have to be psychic to have known this as nothing, not a sign, not a sticker indicated which these were.
Still, I grabbed two and as I was on my way to the checkout, I passed a small table sandwiched between the tiny books -- you know the two-by-two-inch books that you might use as a stocking stuffer or in lieu of a card -- and a rack of magazines. The table held 14 titles from the Festival. The brochure from the Festival was in a basket on the floor underneath, such was the amount of space given to our local authors.
This, Ms. Reisman, is unacceptable.
It is a shame that Chapters hasn't done more to promote local writers by creating an eye-catching, and predominant display of all short-listed books.
I hope you will rectify this immediately.
Sincerely,
Colleen
For blog readers... here's a list of the winning books. (I assume Heather already has a list.)
Winners of the 2007 Atlantic Book Awards
Click HERE for details of the Awards Ceremony
Atlantic Poetry Prize - Steve McOrmond, Primer on the Hereafter (Wolsak & Wynn)
Best Atlantic Published Book - Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette, edited by Bernard Riordon, Goose Lane Editions
Booksellers’ Choice Award - Ami McKay, The Birth House (Knopf)
Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Prize - Budge Wilson, Friendships (Penguin)
Dartmouth Book Award - Fiction - Linda Little, Scotch River (Penguin)
Dartmouth Book Award - Non-fiction - Keith McLaren, A Race for Real Sailors (Douglas & McIntyre)
Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize - Linda Little, Scotch River (Penguin)
Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-fiction - Linden MacIntyre, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence (HarperCollins)
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - John G. Langley, Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard (Nimbus)
Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Illustration - Brenda Jones, Skunks for Breakfast, Nimbus (Lesley Choyce, author)
Mayor's Award for Excellence in Book Illustration* - Jeffrey C. Domm, Formac's Pocketguide to Fossils
Mayor's Award for Cultural Achievement in Literature - Sandra McIntyre, Managing Editor - Nimbus Publishing
Heather Reisman
CEO
Indigo Books & Music Inc.,
468 King Street West, Suite 500
Toronto, ON M5V 1L8
Dear Ms. Reisman:
I confess to being a fiction junkie. I buy novels by the armful. That being the case, I spend a lot of time in your stores. In short, I am the kind of consumer that you should love.
Imagine my dismay upon entering a Chapters book store today, mere weeks after the Atlantic Book Festival, to find that the winners of said Festival all but ignored. Perhaps this would have been merely a sad statement on the book business if I lived in Toronto or Vancouver, but I live in Halifax -- arguably the center of the Atlantic universe.
Was it naive of me to expect more from a company that claims to want to "create a true book lovers' haven -- a place to discover books, music and more that might, in the rush of life, have gone undiscovered. A place that reflects the best of a small proprietor-run shop bundled with the selection of a true emporium?"
I think not.
Let me paint you a picture of the ignoble way your company has treated these wonderful authors.
As I walked in the front doors, I was greeted by King for a Day, a display of books for dad. Well, fair enough. It is almost Father's Day, after all. To the left was a display called Outdoor Living. To the right was Oprah's pick, Middlesex, and Kaled Hosseini's newest release, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Maybe the display behind that, I thought. But no. That was for New and Hot Fiction, which, apparently, the books that won the Atlantic Awards are not. Next were books on magic in the Waiting for Harry section. Then Heather's Pick's, sadly the winning or shortlisted books weren't there either. Halfway down the centre aisle was a display of Former Best Sellers, then Current Events. Located to the right of these were the Books with Buzz. There, I thought. That's were I'll find them. I was wrong again.
Behind the Books with Buzz was a section named Local Interest. Hmmm, I thought, that's usually local history, geography that sort of thing but I'll look. I scanned the front shelves, walked around to the back, scanning, scanning. And there, on the middle set of shelves at the bottom were 29 adult titles written by Atlantic authors. A few were even from the Festival Short List although one would have to be psychic to have known this as nothing, not a sign, not a sticker indicated which these were.
Still, I grabbed two and as I was on my way to the checkout, I passed a small table sandwiched between the tiny books -- you know the two-by-two-inch books that you might use as a stocking stuffer or in lieu of a card -- and a rack of magazines. The table held 14 titles from the Festival. The brochure from the Festival was in a basket on the floor underneath, such was the amount of space given to our local authors.
This, Ms. Reisman, is unacceptable.
It is a shame that Chapters hasn't done more to promote local writers by creating an eye-catching, and predominant display of all short-listed books.
I hope you will rectify this immediately.
Sincerely,
Colleen
For blog readers... here's a list of the winning books. (I assume Heather already has a list.)
Winners of the 2007 Atlantic Book Awards
Click HERE for details of the Awards Ceremony
Atlantic Poetry Prize - Steve McOrmond, Primer on the Hereafter (Wolsak & Wynn)
Best Atlantic Published Book - Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette, edited by Bernard Riordon, Goose Lane Editions
Booksellers’ Choice Award - Ami McKay, The Birth House (Knopf)
Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Prize - Budge Wilson, Friendships (Penguin)
Dartmouth Book Award - Fiction - Linda Little, Scotch River (Penguin)
Dartmouth Book Award - Non-fiction - Keith McLaren, A Race for Real Sailors (Douglas & McIntyre)
Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize - Linda Little, Scotch River (Penguin)
Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-fiction - Linden MacIntyre, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence (HarperCollins)
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - John G. Langley, Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard (Nimbus)
Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Illustration - Brenda Jones, Skunks for Breakfast, Nimbus (Lesley Choyce, author)
Mayor's Award for Excellence in Book Illustration* - Jeffrey C. Domm, Formac's Pocketguide to Fossils
Mayor's Award for Cultural Achievement in Literature - Sandra McIntyre, Managing Editor - Nimbus Publishing
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