Thirty books nominated for 2013 Atlantic Book Awards

The Atlantic Book Awards Society has announced the full shortlist for the 10 different book prizes that make up the 2013 Atlantic Book Awards.

The 30 books up for awards represent 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. The full shortlist is printed below and is available at www.atlanticbookawards.ca.

Among the more familiar names on the shortlist are media personality and CTV Atlantic’s meteorologist, Cindy Day for her weather-related book, Grandma Says (Nimbus Publishing); prolific and celebrated Newfoundland novelist, Donna Morrissey for The Deception of Livvy Higgs (Viking Canada); and acclaimed poet Don McKay for Paradoxides (McClelland & Stewart).

McKay is nominated for The E.J. Pratt Poetry Award. The E.J. Pratt Award, along with the Rogers Communications Award for Non-fiction, is part of the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards which carry the distinguished patronage of the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. These awards cover a two-calendar-year publishing period as they alternate between non-fiction/poetry one year, and fiction/children’s/young adult literature the next. Under the umbrella of the Atlantic Book Awards for the second time now, the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are presented by the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador in partnership with the Literary Arts Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador.

A new Atlantic Book Award being presented for the first time this year is the Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing, sponsored by Marquis Imprimeur.

The region’s book publishers are well represented on the shortlist with 16 of the 30 awards going to books by Atlantic publishers. Halifax’s Nimbus Publishing leads, having published five of the shortlisted titles, while New Brunswick’s Goose Lane Editions has three nominations, and Cape Breton University Press and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Breakwater Books each have two nominations. Other regional publishers with short-listed titles are Nova Scotia’s Fernwood Publishing, PEI’s Acorn Press and St. John’s-based Creative Book Publishing and Flanker Press.

The Atlantic Book Awards Society announced the nominees last evening at a fundraising event that featured author Donna Morrissey hosting a conversation with fellow writers Catherine Banks, Sylvia Gunnery and Shandi Mitchell.

The 2013 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival runs May 9-16 with free literary events taking place in all four Atlantic Provinces. Festival details will be available at www.atlanticbookawards.ca in the coming weeks. Winners of the 2013 Atlantic Book Awards will be announced at a special awards show on the last night of the week-long festival, Thursday, May 16, at 7 p.m. at the Alderney Landing Theatre, Dartmouth. It’s a special year this year for the Dartmouth Book Awards – 2013 is the 25th anniversary of these awards, some of the oldest in Canada.

The Board of the non-profit Atlantic Book Awards Society is made up of representatives of the Atlantic Canadian book and writing community.

Web Site: www.atlanticbookawards.ca

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70023079714&ref=ts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/atlbookawards

2013 ATLANTIC BOOK AWARDS and FESTIVAL SHORTLIST

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature

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