Candace Savage wins Weston Prize for ‘A Geography of Blood’
By Bookmarked - Monday, November 12, 2012 - 0 Comments
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Barbara Amiel on judging the Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-fiction
By Barbara Amiel - Friday, November 9, 2012 at 2:08 PM - 0 Comments
On Monday evening the winner of the richest book prize in Canada, the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for non-fiction, a cool $60,000, will be announced and I know the result. That’s the single advantage of being a judge. The disadvantages are legion—including the legion of authors and their friends, associates and publishers who will think your decision befits that of a donkey’s ass.
My first experience as a book judge was in 1988. A new prize for non-fiction had been established in Britain called the NCR Book Award. I can’t remember a thing now except that I was uncomfortable and sure I had damp patches under my arms sitting in the very prissy hotel room with the other judges, some of Britain’s Great and Good literary lions. We read dozens of books and met for tremendously civilized discussions over tea and buns which were nearly thrown across the table several times. I have never recuperated from having to deliver a synopsis of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time to a black-tie audience in London on awards night. You probably have not read A Brief History of Time or, if you did, have not lived to tell the tale. The first part was a rattling-good read and the second part left me in mud up to the top of my head. Still, I knew the NCR prize was a very good thing because non-fiction quite often gets a bit of a pass-over in the literary prize field and this prize was at the time the richest book award in the UK.
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Tamas Dobozy wins the 2012 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize
By Brian Bethune - Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 7:33 AM - 0 Comments
The Writers’ Trust is justifiably proud of the efficiency of its awards night–”six prizes, in and out in an hour,”crowed cheerful host Shelagh Rogers. (And she wasn’t far wrong either.) But it is also frequently surprising, as it was tonight in its choice for its $25,000 fiction prize.Short -story collections not penned by Alice Munro have traditionally not fared well in the higher reaches of CanLit awards, but the jury (Lynn Coady, Esi Edugyan and Drew Hayden Taylor) gave the nod to Tomas Dobozy’s Siege 13, a lovely set of 13 stories, all linked, however tenuously, to the siege of Nazi-occupied Budapest by the Red Army in the winter of 1944-45.
Dobozy seemed, if anything, more surprised than the audience, and bounded to the podium to say he no remarks prepared, because he “didn’t want to do a Mitt Romney.” So he thanked his wife, children and publishers, and dedicated his win to his father, a survivor of the brutal siege.
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Meet Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominee Linda Spalding
By Bookmarked - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments
Brian Bethune sat down with all five authors shortlisted for the Rogers’ Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which will be announced on Nov. 7. Here’s the fifth in the series, with author Linda Spalding, where we find out what the effect of literary festivals and literary prizes has on their writing life; what of themselves–beside talent and imagination–went into their nominated books; and what they are reading now, followed by an excerpt from their novel.
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Meet Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominee Alix Ohlin
By Bookmarked - Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 3:00 PM - 0 Comments
Brian Bethune sat down with all five authors shortlisted for the Rogers’ Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which will be announced on Nov. 7. Here’s the fourth in the series, with author Alix Ohlin, where we find out what the effect of literary festivals and literary prizes has on their writing life; what of themselves–beside talent and imagination–went into their nominated books; and what they are reading now, followed by an excerpt from their novel.
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Meet Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominee Rawi Hage
By Bookmarked - Monday, November 5, 2012 at 3:00 PM - 0 Comments
Brian Bethune sat down with all five authors shortlisted for the Rogers’ Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which will be announced on Nov. 7. Here’s the third in the series, with author Rawi Hage, where we find out what the effect of literary festivals and literary prizes has on their writing life; what of themselves–beside talent and imagination–went into their nominated books; and what they are reading now, followed by an excerpt from their novel.
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Meet Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominee Tamas Dobozy
By Bookmarked - Friday, November 2, 2012 at 2:00 PM - 0 Comments
Brian Bethune sat down with all five authors shortlisted for the Rogers’ Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which will be announced on Nov. 7. Here’s the second in the series, with author Tamas Dobozy, where we find out what the effect of literary festivals and literary prizes has on their writing life; what of themselves–beside talent and imagination–went into their nominated books; and what they are reading now, followed by an excerpt from their novel.
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Meet Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominee Tim Bowling
By Bookmarked - Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 4:51 PM - 0 Comments
Brian Bethune sat down with all five authors shortlisted for the Rogers’ Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which will be announced on Nov. 7. Here’s the first in the series, with author Tim Bowling, where we find out what the effect of literary festivals and literary prizes has on their writing life; what of themselves–beside talent and imagination–went into their nominated books; and what they are reading now, followed by an excerpt from their novel.
