Archives for posts with tag: rogers writers’ trust fiction prize

The literary “season” is upon us, with award nominations coming thick and fast.

Below, a summary of my coverage for the Globe & Mail.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist was announced Sept. 3, the same day that Margaret Atwood was named to the Booker Prize shortlist in the UK (she was on both). Read my story here.

Then, on Sept. 17, the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction shortlist was announced. For the first time, all five books in contention are written by women. Read my story here.

The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize shortlist came next, on Sept. 24. No Atwood here, but repeat appearances for André Alexis, Michael Crummey and Alix Ohlin, and a great morning for Canadian independent presses. Read my story here.

On Sept. 30, the Giller Prize longlist was whittled down to a shortlist of six. Past winners Atwood and Alexis failed to make the cut, but Michael Crummey and Alix Ohlin chalked up a second shortlisting each. The shortlisted six  – who hail from across the country – include a majority of writers who are successful in genres beyond fiction (poetry and drama). Read my story here.

I didn’t write about the Governor General’s Literary Awards shortlists this year, but they were announced on Oct. 2, when it became the year of Michael Crummey. He is the only author to appear on all three lists (his novel, The Innocents, is fantastic BTW).

 

As part of the International Festival of Authors in Toronto I interviewed the five finalists for the 2017 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

Listen to the conversation >> audio

The finalists were:

Carleigh Baker for Bad Endings

Claire Cameron for The Last Neanderthal

David Chariandy for Brother (eventual winner)

Omar El Akkad for American War

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson for This Accident of Being Lost

image: WT Fiction Shortlist 2013

 

On Monday, September 30, we announced the nominees for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize at a press conference at Ben McNally Books in downtown Toronto. Prize juror and 2010 prize winner Miranda Hill announced the $10,000 Journey Prize shortlist. Prize juror Alison Pick and Jan Innes, vice president, government relations, Rogers Communications, announced the $25,000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize shortlist. The winners will be announced in Toronto on November 20.

The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominees are:

  • Krista Bridge for The Eliot Girls
  • Lynn Coady for Hellgoing
  • Cary Fagan for A Bird’s Eye
  • Colin McAdam for A Beautiful Truth
  • Lisa Moore for Caught

The Journey Prize nominees are:

  • Doretta Lau for her story “How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?”
  • Eliza Robertson for her story “My Sister Sang”
  • Naben Ruthnum for his story “Cinema Rex”

Here’s some of the coverage: