Last night the Canadian Authors Association (CAA) continued its long-held tradition of writers honouring writers and announced the winners of its 2013 Literary Awards competition during its annual CanWrite! conference.

Michael S. Cross of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was awarded the Lela Common Award for Canadian History for A Biography of [...]]]> Via the Canadian Authors Association

Last night the Canadian Authors Association (CAA) continued its long-held tradition of writers honouring writers and announced the winners of its 2013 Literary Awards competition during its annual CanWrite! conference.

Michael S. Cross of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was awarded the Lela Common Award for Canadian History for A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning-Star of Memory (Oxford University Press). The shortlist for this award included Tim Cook (Warlord: Borden, MacKenzie King, and Canada’s World Wars) and Barry Gough (Juan de Fuca’s Strait: Voyages in the Waterway of Forgotten Dreams).

Christopher Meades was named the recipient of the CAA Award for Fiction for his novel The Last Hiccup (ECW Press). This year’s fiction shortlist included Tricia Dower (Stony River) and Vincent Lam (The Headmaster’s Wager).

Don McKay won the CAA Poetry Award for Paradoxides (McClelland & Stewart). The 2013 poetry shortlist also included Julie Bruck (Monkey Ranch) and Emily McGiffin (Between Dusk and Night).

All three award recipients receive a silver medal and a $2000 cash prize.

Earlier this week, two young authors were named as co-recipients of the 2013 Emerging Writer Awards: Claire Battershill and Jay Bahadur. They share a $500 prize.

The awards finalists were announced by CAA National President Matthew Bin at the association’s annual literary awards gala in Orillia, Ontario. Andrew Westoll (Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary) provided a stirring keynote address, and PEN Canada President, Charles Foran, moved the audience with hard facts from a national and international perspective.

The awards were a highlight of this year’s 3-day CanWrite! conference, held at the Orillia campus of Lakehead University and Residence.

Introduced in 1975, the CAA Literary Awards honour Canadian writers who achieve excellence without sacrificing popular appeal – a tradition originally begun in 1937 with the creation of the Governor General’s medals for literature (now overseen by the Canada Council of the Arts). The competition is open to all writers who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.

Founded by Stephen Leacock and several other prominent Canadian writers in 1921, the Canadian Authors Association has continued to maintain a focus on “writers helping writers” since its inception.

Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, and Other Poems, translated from the Arabic by Fady Joudah, written by Ghassan Zaqtan and What’s the Score? by David W. McFadden are the International and Canadian winners of the 2013 annual Griffin Poetry Prize. They each received C$65,000 in prize money.

The Ontario Library Association is proud to announce the winners of the 2013 OLA New Library Building Awards.

The purpose of the OLA New Library Building Awards is to encourage and showcase excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries in Ontario. The competition runs every third year [...]]]> Via the Ontario Library Association

The Ontario Library Association is proud to announce the winners of the 2013 OLA New Library Building Awards.

The purpose of the OLA New Library Building Awards is to encourage and showcase excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries in Ontario. The competition runs every third year to allow a critical number of projects in all types of libraries to accumulate.

This year’s recipients are:

• Centennial College – Library and Academic Facility

Diamond Schmitt Architects

• Kingston Frontenac Public Library – Sydenham Public Library

Shoalts & Zaback Architects Ltd.

• Nipissing University and Canadore College – Harris Learning Library

Diamond Schmitt Architects

• Orillia Public Library

Perkins+Will Canada Inc.

• Waterloo Public Library – John M. Harper Branch

Teeple Architects

• Wellington County Library – Puslinch Branch

L Alan Grinham Architect Inc

• Whitby Public Library – Brooklin Branch

Perkins+Will Canada Inc.

Through their partnerships with architectural firms, the award recipients have created wonderful community spaces. These projects are particularly crucial given that Ontario’s libraries face an infrastructure crisis if further funding resources are not committed. The OLA salutes our winners’ dedication to meeting the demand for multi-functional library buildings that serve the needs of their communities and organizations.

The 2013 award presentation will occur at the Annual Institute on the Library as Place being held at Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, ON July 9, 2013.

The Canadian Authors Association is pleased to announce the CAA Literary Awards shortlists for 2013. Introduced in 1975, these awards continue the association’s long tradition of honouring Canadian writers who achieve excellence without sacrificing popular appeal. The nine finalists were selected from over 300 nominations.

The 2013 CAA Literary [...]]]> Via the Canadian Authors Association

The Canadian Authors Association is pleased to announce the CAA Literary Awards shortlists for 2013. Introduced in 1975, these awards continue the association’s long tradition of honouring Canadian writers who achieve excellence without sacrificing popular appeal. The nine finalists were selected from over 300 nominations.

The 2013 CAA Literary Awards shortlists are as follows:

CAA Award for Fiction

• Tricia Dower, Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, for Stony River, published by Penguin Group Canada

• Vincent Lam, Toronto, Ontario, for The Headmaster’s Wager, published by Doubleday Canada

• Christopher Meades, Burnaby, British Columbia, for The Last Hiccup, published by ECW Press

 Lela Common Award for Canadian History

• Tim Cook, Ottawa, Ontario, for Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King, and Canada’s World Wars, published by Penguin Group Canada

• Michael S. Cross, Halifax, Nova Scotia, for A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning-Star of Memory, published by Oxford University Press

• Barry Gough, Victoria, British Columbia, for Juan de Fuca’s Strait: Voyages in the Waterway of Forgotten Dreams, published by Harbour Publishing

CAA Award for Poetry

• Julie Bruck, San Francisco, California, for Monkey Ranch, published by Brick Books

• Emily McGiffin, Smithers, British Columbia, for Between Dusk and Night, published by Brick Books

• Don McKay, St. John’s, Newfoundland, for Paradoxides, published by McClelland & Stewart

The shortlisted authors have been invited to participate in evening readings on Friday, June 14, at the Lakehead University Orillia Campus. Free and open to the public, these readings are part of the Canadian Authors’ CanWrite! 2013 conference.

The final winners for each category will be announced the following evening, June 15, at the CAA Literary Awards Banquet & Gala at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn & Conference Centre, a highlight of this year’s CanWrite! conference.

Also open to the public, the Banquet & Gala will feature Andrew Westoll (The Chimps of Fauna Santuary) as Keynote, Charles Foran, PEN Canada, as guest speaker, and funnyman Bruce Pirrie as Master of Ceremonies.

A limited number of tickets for the dinner and awards banquet are available ($60 or two for $100). To purchase tickets and RSVP, visit http://canadianauthors.org/conference/caa-literary-awards-gala-2/.

Founded by Stephen Leacock and several other prominent Canadian writers in 1921, the Canadian Authors Association has continued its focus on “writers helping writers” since its inception. Some 25,000 writers have been members of the CAA in its 92-year history, including Bliss Carman, Nellie McClung, and Robert W. Service.

Information about the CAA Literary Awards and this year’s shortlisted authors is available at http://canadianauthors.org/conference/2013-caa-awards-shortlist/.

The Canadian Authors Association is pleased to announce the 2013 winners of the CAA Emerging Writer Award. This year the award will be shared by two promising literary talents:

Claire Battershill has published fiction, poetry, and reviews in several literary publications. She won the CBC Literary Award for Short [...]]]> Via the Canadian Authors Association 2013 

The Canadian Authors Association is pleased to announce the 2013 winners of the CAA Emerging Writer Award. This year the award will be shared by two promising literary talents:

Claire Battershill has published fiction, poetry, and reviews in several literary publications. She won the CBC Literary Award for Short Fiction for the title story for her forthcoming collection, Circus. When she was sixteen, she won the League of Canadian Poets’ National Poetic License Contest. In 2008, she worked as a research assistant for Margaret Atwood’s Massey Lecture, Payback. She currently teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of Toronto and the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Jay Bahadar is a Canadian freelance journalist and author of The Pirates of Somalia, published in seven countries and in four languages. When the Somali pirates exploded in international news in late 2008, Bahadur quit his job and flew to Somalia on a quest to meet some present-day buccaneers.

He has published articles in The Times, The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Globe and Mail. He has worked as a freelance correspondent for CBS News, and has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, CNN, Bloomberg, the BBC, NPR, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

About This Award

This award is given to a writer under 30 deemed to show most promise in the field of literary creation. There are no restrictions as to what field, and a winner may be nominatined – and selected – for work in a variety of forms or genres, published or unpublished. nominations for this award may come from publishers, agents, creative writing instructors, branches of the Canadian Authors Association, or other professional authors.

Readings and Presentations

The authors have been invited to participate in evening readings on Friday, June 14, at the Lakehead University Orillia Campus. Free and open to the public, these readings are part of the Canadian Authors’ CanWrite! 2013 conference.

The award prize will be presented the following evening, June 15, at of the CAA Literary Awards Banquet & Gala at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn & Conference Centre, a highlight of this year’s CanWrite! conference.

Also open to the public, the Banquet & Gala will feature Andrew Westoll (The Chimps of Fauna Santuary) as Keynote, Charles Foran, PEN Canada, as guest speaker, and funnyman Bruce Pirrie as Master of Ceremonies.

A limited number of tickets for the dinner and awards banquet are available ($60 or two for $100). To purchase tickets and RSVP, visit http://canadianauthors.org/conference/caa-literary-awards-gala-2/.

Founded by Stephen Leacock and several other prominent Canadian writers in 1921, the Canadian Authors Association has continued its focus on “writers helping writers” since its inception. Some 25,000 writers have been members of the CAA in its 92-year history, including Bliss Carman, Nellie McClung, and Robert W. Service.

Information about the CAA Literary Awards and this year’s shortlisted authors is available at http://canadianauthors.org/conference/2013-caa-awards-shortlist/.

The Writers’ Union of Canada is extremely concerned for the authors whose work and rights were placed with McArthur & Company. Kim McArthur’s announcement of the closure of her 15 year-old firm leaves many TWUC members wondering what will happen with their books and any unpaid royalties.

McArthur’s [...]]]> Via the Writers’ Union of Canada

The Writers’ Union of Canada is extremely concerned for the authors whose work and rights were placed with McArthur & Company. Kim McArthur’s announcement of the closure of her 15 year-old firm leaves many TWUC members wondering what will happen with their books and any unpaid royalties.

McArthur’s closure follows closely on the heels of the splitting up and sale of component parts of D&M Publishers Inc. McArthur & Company was among the larger remaining independent publishers in Canada.

“It’s alarming that yet another independent, Canadian-owned publisher is being shuttered,” said novelist Dorris Heffron, Chair of The Writers’ Union. “The number of options for writers in Canada continues to shrink, especially if one wants to place one’s book on a Canadian list.”

Early reports about the McArthur closure indicate rights to books published by the firm will be placed with other publishers or reverted to the authors. At the time of this release, TWUC has heard nothing about payment of outstanding royalties and no definite word on the timing of such transfers. The Union will continue to monitor the situation on behalf of our members, and will continue to advocate with funders and legislators for better protection for writers’ revenues in the event of publisher insolvency, collapse or closure.

“Writers are the central entrepreneurs and risk-takers in the Canadian publishing industry right now,” said John Degen, TWUC’s executive director and a published author. “We’re expected to take on much more active roles and more risk in the publishing of our books, which many of us happily do, but we need more certainty in an increasingly uncertain sector.”

Scotland’s Mark Buckland, founder of Cargo Publishing and publisher of Roddy Doyle, Will Self and Amy Bloom, will [...]]]> Twenty-five publishing professionals from Canada, the United States, England and Scotland will come together to explore, share and reflect on the world of writing and publishing at the 12th annual Book Summit on June 20, 2013.

Scotland’s Mark Buckland, founder of Cargo Publishing and publisher of Roddy Doyle, Will Self and Amy Bloom, will take part in a discussion on the new landscape for acquiring titles. To wrap up the day, he will take part in a panel that will reflect on the state of the industry. He will be joined by England’s Victoria Barnsley, CEO and Publisher at HarperCollins UK and International; Fiona McCrae from the United States, Publisher at Graywolf Books; and Vancouver’s Howard White, publisher at Harbour Publishing.

The day will kick off with Chuck Klosterman, who writes The Ethicist column in the New York Times Magazine, in a session titled “The Ethics of Publishing.” Participants can then participate in two of six workshops that explore such themes as “Can an E-Book Look Good?,” “How Much Does Free Cost?” and “What’s New About New Adult?” BookNet Canada will present a session that looks at the profile of the Canadian book buyer. The day will end with the panel discussion, titled “Reflections on the Book Industry in Motion.”

Presented by the Book and Periodical Council and Humber College’s School of Creative and Performing Arts, in association with Authors at Harbourfront Centre, Book Summit 2013 is a day-long conference held at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. This year’s conference, titled Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Book Industry in Motion, offers practical workshops and hard numbers alongside theory, prognostication and observations from publishing professionals from Canada, the United States, England and Scotland.

The conference will take place on June 20, 2013, beginning at the Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West. For details and to register visit booksummit.ca.

“It’s always lovely to get an award for something you love to do, and I am particularly honoured to receive this award because Home [...]]]> The Ontario Library Association is thrilled to announce Joy Fielding is the winner of the 2013 Forest of Reading® Golden Oak™ Award for her book Home Invasion (Grass Roots Press).

“It’s always lovely to get an award for something you love to do, and I am particularly honoured to receive this award because Home Invasion was written specifically for adults who struggle with literacy, and to be acknowledged by them in this way is tremendously gratifying,” Joy Fielding said.

In Home Invasion, Kathy Brown suddenly wakes up. Was that a noise in the house, or part of her dream? In her dream, Kathy was about to kiss Michael, her high school boyfriend. Her husband, Jack, lies beside her, snoring. Michael is exciting. Jack is boring. When Kathy hears the noise again, she gets up. Then she hears whispers. Then she feels a gun at her head. Two men are in the house. Kathy and her husband face a living nightmare. Kathy must also face her real feelings about her husband. The outcome surprises everyone, most of all Kathy herself.

This year’s Golden Oak ceremony was held at North York Memorial Hall as part of the 2013 Learners’ Conference led by the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy in partnership with the Toronto Public Library. On June 6th, almost 300 Adult learners participated in two literacy workshops and then had a luncheon during the Golden Oak ceremony.

Each nominated book was presented by adult literacy program participants from across Toronto. Four authors were on hand to speak to the crowd and share their experiences. Eric Walters (The Matatu), Joy Fielding (Home Invasion), Deborah Ellis (No Ordinary Day) and Monica Kulling (In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up) were part of the ceremony and signed autographs.

About the Forest of Reading program

The Forest of Reading is Canada’s largest recreational reading program of its kind! The Ontario Library Association (OLA) offers seven reading programs to encourage a love of reading in people of all ages. The nominated titles are selected by committees of library practitioners and readers vote for the winners.

The Golden Oak™ Award reading program provides a unique opportunity for new readers in adult literacy programs to read books chosen specifically for them. They can read the books alone, with their tutors, or as part of a reading group. This program helps new adult readers to gain the skills to accomplish everyday tasks, as well as foster the love of reading.

The Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC) has announced the finalists for the 2012 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. The $2,000 grand prize is awarded annually to an editor who has shown excellence, skill and talent in helping to produce a work published in Canada in English or [...]]]> Via the Editors’ Association of Canada

The Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC) has announced the finalists for the 2012 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. The $2,000 grand prize is awarded annually to an editor who has shown excellence, skill and talent in helping to produce a work published in Canada in English or French in the award year. EAC is also pleased to announce that, in recognition of their outstanding editorial performance, the other finalists will receive a cash prize of $500 each.

Once again, the judges were faced with the difficult task of selecting a short list from a pool of remarkably talented and dedicated editors who brought out the best in their respective publications. One judge in particular glowingly praised “the editors’ unflagging zeal to get at and express the truths that were important to the authors, and their skill in doing so.”

The finalists have been invited to EAC’s awards banquet, to be held during EAC’s 2013 conference in Halifax on June 8.

SHORT LIST

Sandy Newton of Cupids, NL, for Here’s the Catch: The Fish We Harvest from the Northwest Atlantic, by Wade Kearley (Boulder Publications)

Sandy Newton went above and beyond the traditional role of managing editor and had a hand in verifying factual information, guiding the book’s development through stylistic editing, and assisting with page design. The judges praised her meticulous attention to detail and her thoughtful insights, which contributed to the high quality of the finished work.

Catherine Plear of Vancouver, BC, for Seeking Sickness: Medical Screening and the Misguided Hunt for Disease, by Alan Cassels (Greystone Books)

Catherine Plear transformed a complex manuscript questioning the value of frequent medical screening into a clear, organized and thoroughly comprehensible text. The judges commended her for explaining the competing interests involved in the issue, closing logical gaps, and removing ambiguous and potentially contentious language.

Adele Simmons of Whitby, ON, for The Costumer’s Notebook, by Rae Stephens (The Costumers Institute)

Adele Simmons worked with author Rae Stephens for three years, devoting 800 hours to development of this practical and user-friendly guide for working costumers. Simmons guided the author in the decision to publish her work as a trade non-fiction book, and applied various editorial skills, including structural editing and proofreading, to produce a book that is warm in tone and rich in knowledge.

The judges for the 2012 Tom Fairley Award are experienced and respected Canadian editors. Benoît Arsenault is a French editor/coordinator at Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service. He also works as a freelance French editor. Marc Côté is the publisher of Cormorant Books. He has been nominated several times for the Libris Award for Editor of the Year, awarded by the Canadian Booksellers Association, and he won it in 2009 and 2010. Margaret Shaw is a freelance writer, editor and consultant. She is also a certified copy editor and structural and stylistic editor who co-chaired the committee that developed EAC’s Structural Editing: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards.

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that Chloe Hogan-Weihmann has won the $2,500 cash prize for its twentieth annual Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers, for the best story under 2,500 words, with her piece “The Night Café.” The Union will submit the winning story [...]]]> Via the Writers’ Union of Canada

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that Chloe Hogan-Weihmann has won the $2,500 cash prize for its twentieth annual Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers, for the best story under 2,500 words, with her piece “The Night Café.” The Union will submit the winning story and the eleven other shortlisted stories to three Canadian magazine publishers for their consideration.

Chloe Hogan-Weihmann is a 19-year-old university student (doing a B.Sc. in psychology) from Edmonton, Alberta, who just started writing. In her spare time she likes to drink too much coffee, read too many books, and watch too many cartoons. She is trying to learn to play guitar although she is currently impressively bad at it. She is very eager to continue with her writing.

As the Union celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, it also marks 20 years of the Short Prose Competition. The Competition aims to discover, encourage, and promote new writers of short prose who are not yet published in book format, in order to provide opportunity and exposure to developing writers. This year, twenty-four Union members donated their time and expertise to read 505 outstanding submissions and distill them into a long-list of one hundred and two stories. These stories went on to a second round of twenty-two readers who selected the finalists to pass on to the jury: Ami McKay, Rosemary Nixon, and Mark A. Rayner.

WINNER:

“The Night Café” by Chloe Hogan-Weihmann

The jury “admired ‘The Night Café’ for the risks it took. In this lovely inventive piece, the author creates poetry through intersecting structures. Form and content meld as the imagination of two solitary artistic characters gives rise to a longing beautifully portrayed in, ‘He doesn’t fancy himself a poet – it’s just that his loneliness sometimes rhymes.’ The writer’s playful slip into future tense as the story moves along its wistful trajectory, and its surprising layering of multiple endings opens possibility, and captures the uncertainty and mystery of the human experience.”

FINALISTS

Imperfect Angels, Sherry Cassells, Toronto, ON

Reasons to Fly, Amy Dixon, Toronto, ON

Safe, Laura M. Kraemer, Calgary, AB

Lift, Brooke Lockyer, Toronto, ON

Tommy’s Mother, Bretton Loney, Halifax, NS

Faith Healer, Kirsteen MacLeod, Kingston, ON

Avó Lives Alone, Emanuel Melo, Toronto, ON

Aquarius, Henry Moll, Campbell River, BC

It Was a Quiet New Year’s Eve for Sonia Finkelman, Honey Oerbach, Oakville, ON

The Methodology of Grace, Maria Reva, New Westminster, BC

The Violinist, Sandra K. Sale, Ajax, ON

FINAL JURY

Ami McKay, Rosemary Nixon, and Mark A. Rayner.

The Writers’ Union of Canada is our country’s national organization representing professional authors of books. Founded in 1973, the Union is dedicated to fostering writing in Canada, and promoting the rights, freedoms, and economic well-being of all writers. For more information, please visit www.writersunion.ca.