March 30th, 2026

Leading with 3 nominations: Five Seasons of Charlie Francis by Danica Roache

The ceremonies for the Nova Scotia and Atlantic Book Awards both take place during the weeklong Atlantic Book Awards Festival, May 28 to June 4. The festival features a range of online and in-person events with the authors shortlisted for the provincial and regional awards, which collectively are worth more than $60,000. The shortlisted books are selected by independent juries for each award; however, it’s the general public who will determine the winner of the Atlantic Independent Booksellers Readers’ Choice Award.

The nominees for the 2026 Nova Scotia Book Awards are:

Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
Renée Belliveau, A Sense of Things Beyond, Vagrant Press
Robert de la Chevotière, We Were Not Kings, Little A
Danica Roache, Five Seasons of Charlie Francis, Vagrant Press

Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award
Jessie Harrold, Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage, Shambhala Publications Inc
Halina St. James, The Golden Daughter, House of Anansi Press
Marjorie Simmins, In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light, and Flight, Pottersfield Press

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Fiction
Danica Roache, Five Seasons of Charlie Francis, Vagrant Press
Julie K Strong, The Tudor Prophecy, OC Publishing
Brenda Tyedmers, Mrs. Walford, Self-published

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Non-Fiction
Ken Hynes, Service and Sacrifice, Nimbus Publishing
James MacDuff & Mirriam Mweemba, The Illogical Adventure, A Memoir of Love and Fate, Pottersfield Press
Jo-Ann Roberts, Storm the Ballot Box, Nimbus Publishing

Double Nominee! You read that right. Five Seasons of Charlie Francis by Danica Roache has earned two nominations for Nova Scotia Book Awards!

The NSBAs will be presented on Monday, June 1, at Brightwood Golf & Country Club in Dartmouth in a ceremony hosted by Juanita Peters that will also be live-streamed. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Get tickets Here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/2026-nova-scotia-book-awards-gala

The Atlantic Book Awards are open to writers from all four Atlantic provinces. The books shortlisted this year are a testament to the incredible diversity and richness of Atlantic Canadian literature.

Here are the 2026 Atlantic Book Awards nominees:

Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction
Geoff Butler, We, the Ancestors, Self-published
Shelley Thompson, Winter Sky, Vagrant Press
Heidi Wicks, Here, Breakwater Books

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature
Charis Cotter, The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, Tundra Books
Jacqueline Halsey, Joe and the Wreck of the Tribune, Nimbus Publishing
Melanie Mosher, Bertie Stewart is Perfectly Imperfect, Nimbus Publishing
Willie Poll, Our Ancestor’s Kitchen, Annick Press
Lauren Soloy, The Newest Gnome, Tundra Books

APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
Goose Lane Editions, Erica Rutherford, by Pan Wendt
Breakwater Books, Just Around the Corner, by Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones
Breakwater Books, Openly Karl, by Karl Wells

J. M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award
Leigh Faulkner, Yes Is The Only Word the Earth Understands, Owl’s Head Press
Sue Goyette, Future Howl, Gaspereau Press
Natalie Rice, Nightjar, Gaspereau Press
Rebecca Salazar, antibody, McClelland & Stewart
Christine Wu, Familial Hungers, Brick Books

Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award
Renée Belliveau, A Sense of Things Beyond, Vagrant Press
Jaime Burnet, milktooth, Vagrant Press
Robert de la Chevotière, We Were Not Kings, Little A
Danny Jacobs, The Ignis Psalter, Porcupine’s Quill
Danica Roache, Five Seasons of Charlie Francis, Vagrant Press

More Double Nominees! Both A Sense of Things Beyond by Renée Belliveau, published by Vagrant Press and We Were Not Kings by Robert de la Chevotière, published by Little A, are nominated for BOTH the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Five Seasons of Charlie Francis by Danica Roache, published by Vagrant Press, gets a third nomination, on the shortlist for not only the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction and the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Fiction, but also the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award.

Congratulations to all the nominees! Let’s get reading!

On Thursday, June 4, the four Atlantic Book Awards will be presented, including one of Canada’s biggest book prizes, the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, valued at $30,000. The Atlantic Book Awards gala also includes presentations of the Atlantic Legacy Award and the Atlantic Independent Booksellers Readers’ Choice Award, now in its third year and with a new name. The Atlantic Independent Booksellers have joined us to sponsor this award, which now comes with a cash prize of $1,000. The Readers’ Choice Award is open to any Atlantic Canadian book published in 2025 (that is, any book written or published by an Atlantic Canadian) of any and all genres and languages. We’re accepting submissions now. Head over to our website for more info! Submit here: https://forms.gle/V5quN89rQnpgWPUr8

The Atlantic Book Awards gala takes place at 7 p.m. in Paul O’Regan Hall at Halifax Central Library, with CBC Radio host Portia Clark as emcee. The awards ceremony will also be live-streamed so book lovers across the region and beyond can join in the celebration.

Ticket Link: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/atlantic-book-awards-gala-2

The 2026 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival thanks its partners: We’d like to thank our partners: Atlantic Books Today, Halifax Public Libraries, The Cabot Trail Writers Festival, The AfterWords Literary Festival, and the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.

Our thanks to our funders: Nova Scotia Department of Tourism Culture and Heritage, Canada Book Fund, HALIFAX, and Nova Scotia Support 4 Culture.

As well, we’d like to show our appreciation to our sponsors: Gordon Stirrett Wealth Management, Cox & Palmer, KPMG, Mersey Seafoods, The Chester Playhouse, Saint Mary’s University English Department, SouthWest Properties and Running the Goat Books and Broadsides.

We acknowledge that in-person festival events will take place in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the Treaties of Peace and Friendship first signed in 1725.

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Contact: Lee-Anne Poole (she/her)
Festival Coordinator, Atlantic Book Awards and Festival
C: (902) 456-7665
E: atlanticbookawardsfestival@gmail.com

www.atlanticbookawards.ca

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