By: Sarah El-Chaar 

This year’s Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s Best Atlantic-Published Book Award nominees all share one thing in common: unapologetic authenticity.  

The Atlantic Book Award Festival is an event that takes place every year where authors have a chance at winning prestigious awards recognizing their work and creativity. Among the seven awards given out, the APMA presents an award for Best Atlantic-Published Book.  

The winner “best exemplifies excellence and achievement in all aspects and phases of the publishing process,” according to the guidelines set by the APMA. The award is valued at $3,000 for the publisher and $1,000 for the author, and is generously sponsored by Friesens.   

In 2026, the winner of the APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award is Goose Lane Editions for Erica Rutherford: Her Lives and Works | Ses vies, ses oeuvres edited by Pan Wendt. This was shortlisted alongside Breakwater Books for Openly Karl by Karl Wells and Just Around the Corner by Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones. 

Of the winning book, the jury said that Goose Lane Editions “created a book we didn’t even know we wanted—no small feat in publishing.” This book includes more than 60 paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs. Editor Pan Wendt said “Rutherford’s work represents a courageous and often solitary mission of working through questions that are only now part of the mainstream public discourse.”  

Publisher Susanne Alexander said Goose Lane Editions is honoured to stand alongside “two fantastic pieces of biographies,” praising the teamwork and community of the publishing world. Thanking the jury for the APMA Book Award, Alexander said Erica Rutherford “changed the way people interacted with trans people at a time when it was not popular to do so.”

Alongside Goose Lane Editions’ win, Breakwater Books was nominated through two different books. Yvonne Rumbolt-Jones’ Just Around the Corner is an intimate memoir that offers a look into Rumbolt-Jones’ life as the longest-serving female politician in Newfoundland and Labrador. She exposes the challenges of being a woman in politics, as well as her personal tribulations throughout her life.  

The jury said “it’s no small feat to raise the profile of an accomplished politician like Rumbolt-Jones, but Breakwater’s sensitive editing and robust community engagement appear to have done just that.” 

Similarly, Karl Wells’ Openly Karl explores a well-loved CBC journalist’s personal life, specifically touching on the struggles of being gay during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The jury said Wells’ memoir was “charismatically crafted and thoughtfully marketed to often forgotten but engaged audiences. A real gem.” 

The jury also praises Breakwater Books for their “support for their LGBTQ+ author in particular,” calling it exemplary and a model for the publishing industry.

All three publications are revealing in nature. Whether that be revealing one’s gender identity, sexuality, or personal history, they all carry the message of learning how to embrace unapologetic authenticity. This theme is reflected in the words and values demonstrated by the nominees and the eventual winner of the APMA Book Award.