Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia announces East Coast Literary Awards short list
Awards celebrate a diversity of regional voices in non-fiction, poetry and fiction
The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia released the short list for the 2015 East Coast Literary Awards this morning. These three awards celebrate and promote excellence in writing from Atlantic Canada.
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, valued at $25,000, is one of Canada’s largest literary prizes. It was established by Raddall himself and is today supported by his family. It was envisioned to provide “the gift of the and peace of mind” that is key to creating new writing. This year’s short list includes:
- David Adams Richards (NB), Crimes Against My Brother (Doubleday Canada)
- Michael Crummey (NL), Sweetland (Doubleday Canada)
- Darren Greer (NS), Just Beneath My Skin (Cormorant)
The Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award, valued at $2,000, was created in the early 1980s to honour the best non-fiction titles. It’s named for Evelyn Richardson, who in 1945 won the Governor General’s Non-Fiction Award for We Keep A Light, her memoir of life in a family of lighthouse keepers in Shelburne County. This year’s short list includes:
- Heather Sparling (NS), Reeling Roosters & Dancing Ducks: Celtic Mouth Music (Cape Breton University Press)
- Graham Steele (NS), What I Learned About Politics: Inside the Rise and Collapse of Nova Scotia’s NDP Government (Nimbus Publishing)
- Kaleigh Trace (NS), Hot, Wet, & Shaking: How I Learned To Talk About Sex (Invisible Publishing)
The J.M. Abraham Poetry Award, valued at $2,000, was created by the local writing community two decades ago. This year’s short list includes:
- Brian Bartlett (NS), Ringing Here & There: A Nature Calendar (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
- Sylvia D. Hamilton (NS), And I Alone Escaped To Tell You (Gaspereau Press)
- Susan Paddon (NS), Two Tragedies in 429 Breaths (Brick Books)
The awards jurors reviewed 62 submitted titles by writers from all four provinces to select the nine finalists. Each year, the East Coast Literary Awards introduces local, national and international readers to remarkable works written by Atlantic Canadians.
Full details of shortlisted titles and writers will be available tomorrow on the WFNS website, and winners will be announced at the East Coast Literary Awards presentation in Halifax on June 6, following a series of readings celebrating the shortlisted writers.
The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia was established in 1976 to provide advice and assistance to writers at all stages of their careers, encourage greater public recognition of writers and their achievements, and enhance the literary arts in our regional and national culture.
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