Matthews leads nominations for Manitoba Book Awards

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The short list for the 29th annual Manitoba Book Awards was released Friday morning, with a book by the curator of ethnology at the Manitoba Museum leading the way with four nominations.

Naamiwan’s Drum: The Story of a Contested Repatriation of Anishinaabe Artifacts, by Maureen Matthews, published by University of Toronto Press, is nominated for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award as well as in categories for best first book, most promising writer and non-fiction books.

Rounding out the Book of the Year finalists are Aqueduct: Colonialism, Resources, and the Histories We Remember by Adele Perry; The Break by Katherena Vermette; Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World by Royden Loewen; Reflections by Karen E. Toole (the lone self-published book in the category); and Somewhere a Long and Happy Life Probably Awaits You by Jill Sexsmith.

In addition to Naamiwan’s Drum, other titles shortlisted for the best non-fiction category are Abandoned Manitoba: From Residential Schools to Bank Vaults to Grain Elevators by Gordon Goldsborough and Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World’s Most Celebrated Holiday by Gerry Bowler. Fiction finalists are Be Still the Water by Karen Emilson, The Break by Katherena Vermette, Junkyard Lucy by Tony Nesca, Somewhere a Long and Happy Life Probably Awaits You by Jill Sexsmith and Stranger by David Bergen.

There are 18 categories in total, with more than $30,000 in prizes being awarded this year. The Manitoba Book Awards will be presented April 22 at a gala hosted by Terry MacLoed and Lara Rae at the Fort Garry Hotel. Tickets are $75 and include a dinner, and are available at the Manitoba Book Awards website.

 

The complete list of nominations:

Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction 

 

• Abandoned Manitoba: From Residential Schools to Bank Vaults to Grain Elevators by Gordon Goldsborough
• Christmas in the Crosshairs: Two Thousand Years of Denouncing and Defending the World’s Most Celebrated Holiday by Gerry Bowle
• Naamiwan’s Drum: The Story of a Contested Repatriation of Anishinaabe Artefacts by Maureen Matthews

 

 

Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award

 

• Aqueduct: Colonialism, Resources, and the Histories We Remember by Adele Perry
• The Bootlegger’s Confession: A Sam Klein Mystery by Allan Levine
• The Break by Katherena Vermette
• The Shadow Over Portage and Main: Weird Fictions, edited by Keith Cadieux and Dustin Geeraert

 

 

Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Awards

Design category

 

• Her Darling Boy: The letters of a mother, her beloved son and the heartbreaking cost of Vimy Ridge by Tom Goodman, cover design by Relish New Brand Experience
• Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World by Royden Loewen, cover design by David Drummond / Salamander Hill Design, interior design by Jess Koroscil
• Hot Town and Other Stories by Janet Trull, cover design by M.C. Joudrey and Alana Brooker
• Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel, cover design by Relish New Brand Experience
• Thrashing Seasons: Sporting Culture in Manitoba and the Genesis of Prairie Wrestling by C. Nathan Hatton, cover design by Mike Carroll, interior design by Jess Koroscil

 

General illustrated category

 

• Abandoned Manitoba: From Residential Schools to Bank Vaults to Grain Elevators by Gordon Goldsborough, design by Relish New Brand Experience
• Giants’ Well by Scott A. Ford, illustration and design by Scott A. Ford
• Manitoba: Land of the Unexpected, photographs and text by Mike Grandmaison

 

Children’s illustrated category

 

• ‘Dinosaurs’ of the Deep: Discover Prehistoric Marine Life by Larry Verstraete, illustrations by Julius Csotonyi
• Rudiger and the Painted Door by Jonathan Toews, illustrated by Ryan Polinsky
• Rust and Water, written by GMB Chomichuk, created and illustrated by Justin Currie
• Wilson, Do You Hear It? by Diane Van Wart, illustrated by Monika Hansen

 

Graphic novel category

 

• Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson
• A Blanket of Butterflies by Richard Van Camp, cover design by Relish New Brand Experience, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson
• Will I See? by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by GMB Chomichuk,

 

 

Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction

 

• Be Still the Water by Karen Emilson
• The Break by Katherena Vermette
• Junkyard Lucy by Tony Nesca
• Somewhere a Long and Happy Life Probably Awaits You by Jill Sexsmith
• Stranger by David Bergen

 

 

Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher

 

• Abandoned Manitoba: From Residential Schools to Bank Vaults to Grain Elevators by Gordon Goldsborough
• The Archaeologists by Hal Niedzviecki
• Departures by Dennis Cooley
• Gloryland by Carla Funk
• Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Issues in Canada by Chelsea Vowel
• The Spanish Boy by C.S. Reardon
• A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby with Mary Louisa Plummer

 

 

Lansdowne Prize for Poetry

 

• Departures by Dennis Cooley
• Martial Music by George Amabile
• Tell Them It Was Mozart by Angeline Schellenberg

 

 

McNally Robinson Book for Young People Awards

Younger category

 

• A Dog Day for Susan by Maureen Fergus, illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
• The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold by Maureen Fergus, illustrated by Cale Atkinson
• When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by Julie Flett

 

Older category

 

• Another Me by Eva Wiseman
• Prisoner of Warren by Andreas Oertel
• Trouble Makes a Comeback by Stephanie Tromly

 

 

The Chris Johnson Award for Best Play by a Manitoba Playwright

 

• Marriage: A Demolition in Two Acts by Rick Chafe
• Social Studies by Trish Cooper
• Shiksa by Cairn Moore
• Reservations by Steven Ratzlaff

 

 

Le Prix littéraire Rue-Deschambault

 

• FM Youth by Stéphane Oystryk
• Particulités by Daniel Lavoie
• Vices et déboires by Marcien Ferland

 

 

Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book

 

• Her Darling Boy: The letters of a mother, her beloved son and the heartbreaking cost of Vimy Ridge by Tom Goodman
• Naamiwan’s Drum: The Story of a Contested Repatriation of Anishinaabe Artefacts by Maureen Matthews
• No Escape from Greatness by Jeffrey John Eyamie
• Reflections by Karen E. Toole 
• Tell Them It Was Mozart by Angeline Schellenberg

 

 

John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer 

 

• Naamiwan’s Drum: The Story of a Contested Repatriation of Anishinaabe Artefacts by Maureen Matthews
• No Escape from Greatness by Jeffrey John Eyamie
• Social Studies by Trish Cooper
• Somewhere a Long and Happy Life Probably Awaits You by Jill Sexsmith
• Tell Them It Was Mozart by Angeline Schellenberg

 

 

Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award

 

• I Don’t Like Bugs!/J’aime paa lii biibiits! by Edgar D. Desjarlais, illustrated by Kimberly McKay
• When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by Julie Flett
• Will I See? by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by GMB Chomichuk

 

 

McNally Robinson Book of the Year

 

• Aqueduct: Colonialism, Resources, and the Histories We Remember by Adele Perry
• The Break by Katherena Vermette
• Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World by Royden Loewen
• Naamiwan’s Drum: The Story of a Contested Repatriation of Anishinaabe Artefacts by Maureen Matthews
• Reflections by Karen E. Toole 
• Somewhere a Long and Happy Life Probably Awaits You by Jill Sexsmith