The Buzz...About Books

Writers' Trust of Canada Awards Announced

The Writers' Trust of Canada was formed in 1976 by a group of Canadian authors.  The non-profit organization administers a number of literary awards and grants for writers. 

On November 1, 6 of these awards were announced.

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize:
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award:
Wayne Johnston

Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life:
David Adams Richards

Vicky Metcalf Award:
Iain Lawrence

The Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize:
This prize is presented to the author of a short story published in a Canadian literary journal.  This year's winner was Miranda Hill for Petitions to Saint Chronic published in The Dalhousie Review.

Writers' Trust Distinguished Contribution Award:
This award celebrates individuals who have furthered the aims of the Writers' Trust.
Alma Lee the founding Executive Director of the Writers' Union of Canada and the Writers' Trust of Canada. She also spent 17 years as the Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival.

These awards, also administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada were announced earlier in 2011.

Writers' Trust Hilary Weston Prize for Nonfiction:
Mordecai: The Life and Times by Charles Foran

Dayne Ogilvie Grant:
This year's recipient is Farzana Doctor, author of Stealing Nasreen and Six Metres of Pavement.  This grant is given annually to "an emerging gay or lesbian writer who has demonstrated literary promise through a body of work of exceptional quality".

The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing:
The Ghosts of Europe: Journey's Through Central Europe's Troubled Past and Uncertain Future by Anna Porter

RBC Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award:
Presented to a writer under 35 years of age who has not yet published a book, this year's winner was poet Garth Martens.

Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist

The Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist was revealed on September 6.  The award was founded in 1994 by Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his wife, literary journalist Doris Giller.  The prize is presented to the best novel or short story collection published in English.  It is Canada's most lucrative literary award with the winning author receiving $50,000.

This year, 143 books were submitted for consideration--the largest number to date.  For the first time, The Readers' Choice contest invited member of the public to vote on a book for the longlist.  The Readers' Choice nominee is Extensions by Myrna Dey.

The shortlist will be announced on October 4.

Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist:

The Antagonist by Lynn Coady

Beggar's Garden by Michael Christie

Better Living Through Plastic Explosives by Zsuzsi Gartner

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Extensions by Myrna Dey

The Free World by David Bezmozgis

A Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe

Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Into the Heart of the Country by Pauline Holdstock

The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott

The Meagre Tarmac by Clark Blaise

Monoceros by Suzette Mayr

The Return by Dany Laferrière (translation by David Homel)

 

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

Solitaria by Genni Gunn

Touch by Alexi Zentner

A World Elsewhere by Wayne Johnston

Looking for a Quick Read?

If you are looking for a book you can read in one sitting or between subway stops, there are two new lines of books that you will enjoy. These books are written by well-known Canadian authors and are designed to be under 100 pages long. Great for those looking for a quick interesting read or literacy students.

One line is the Good Reads series, which includes both fiction and non-fiction titles from Canadian authors Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Deborah Ellis, Maureen Jennings, Rabindranath Maharaj, Louise Penny and Gail Vaz-Ixlade. Maureen Jennings' book Shipwreck is the latest in the Murdoch mystery series. The Murdoch mysteries are set in Toronto during the 1890s. This book is actually told by a present day relative of Detective William Murdoch, as he is writing the memoirs of his family history. In this tale Murdoch is still a young boy, but he already has the reasoning that will make him a detective. There is a shipwreck during a storm. The people of the small fishing village in Nova Scotia quickly work to save survivors from the wreck. A young woman who hides a terrible secret is rescued and only Murdoch can uncover the truth. 

The second line is the Rapid Reads, which includes stories from Gail Bowen, William Kowalski, Medora Sale and Zoe Whittall. Love You to Death by Gail Bowen is a fast paced, edge of your seat mystery. Charlie D hosts a late-night radio talk show and this story takes place during his two hours on air. His regular callers are usually zany outcasts who feel personally connected to Charlie. One night Charlie learns that his callers are being killed. The police suspect that one of Charlie's fans is obsessed and killing those that are getting in the way. The police are depending on Charlie to bring the killer out of hiding before another murder occurs.

More Good Reads

More Rapid Reads

Feeling Grinchy?

Tired of the perpetual good cheer and cozy charm of holiday books?  Try some of these dark selections to help you access your inner Grinch. 

Start with David Sedaris' Holidays on Ice. (Check out his latest  too - Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - these animal stories are anything but cuddly)

Revel in horrific holiday recollections in both The Worst Noels: Hellish Holiday Tales and The Dreaded Feast: Writers on Enduring the Holidays.  Enjoy Lewis Black (from the Daily Show) and his holiday rants in I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas. Try another tender memoir from Augusten Burroughs: You'd Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas.

Be prepared with The Worst-Case Scenerio Survival Handbook: Holidays or be inspired by Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel: a Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror that involves zombies feasting on the living. 

And of course, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 

        



  
 

Pure Pleasure

Pure Pleasure: A Guide to the 20th Century's Most Enjoyable Books by British literary critic John Carey is delightful from beginning to end. Each article is about three pages long, so it is an ideal book for dipping into in an idle moment.

Carey includes novels, short stories, poetry, memoirs, criticism and books translated into English -- in short, any book that induces pure pleasure.

He made me want to read these three poetry collections. Here are some of the comments that caught my attention:

• on W.B. Yeats: Collected Poems: "Why one of our supreme poetic masters should have needed the help of beliefs that would disgrace a fairground fortune-teller is a question that takes us to the heart of the modern poet's predicament."
• on Thomas Hardy's poetry collection: Satires of Circumstance: "Melodiousness is exiled too. It is replaced...by intricate metrical variations that control your reading as surely as a hand on your throat."
• on A.E. Housman: Collected Poems: "The choice of short, common words implies suppression of the ego. Splendour is shunned. Yet there is also something majestic about wielding such power while scarcely seeming to lift a finger."