Manitoba Book Awards accepting submissions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/11/2018 (2833 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Entries are open for the 2019 Manitoba Book Awards, and a new online entry form is one of the changes for this year’s celebration of Manitoba writing.

Nov. 23 is the deadline both for filling out the online entry form and for postmarking books, which this year are to be sent to the Millennium Library. The awards ceremony is scheduled for May 3 at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Details and links to the entry form are available at wfp.to/bookawards19.

● ● ●

A letter discovered in 2015 by University of Manitoba Prof. Michelle Faubert sheds new light on the origins of the anti-slavery movement in Britain and on a horrific massacre in which 132 enslaved Africans were thrown off a slave ship.

Faubert writes about the significance of the newly discovered letter and of its author, Granville Sharp, who became involved in a court case over the 1781 massacre. Faubert launches her book Granville Sharp’s Uncovered Letter and the Zong Massacre on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at McNally Robinson Bookseller’s Grant Park location.

● ● ●

The U.S. National Book Awards finalists have been announced, with Lauren Groff’s short-fiction collection Florida and Rebecca Makkai’s bestselling AIDS-era novel The Great Believers making the list for the fiction prize.

Other books shortlisted for the fiction prize are Jamel Brinkley’s collection A Lucky Man, Brandon Hobson’s novel Where the Dead Sit Talking and Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend.

On the non-fiction side are three books of history and biography: The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway; American Eden: David Hosack, Botany and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic by Victoria Johnson; and The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart. More current events are examined in the other two non-fiction nominees, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh and We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights by Adam Winkler.

The winners of the awards, which also include categories for poetry, works in translation and children’s books, will be announced Wednesday.

● ● ●

Winnipeg writer Bess Hamilton will discuss how to find inspiration in primary and secondary historical sources on Saturday, when she leads a workshop titled How to Time Travel: Writing Historical Fiction.

Hamilton’s novel Remembrance, set after the First World War’s end, was published by Sands Press in March.

Hamilton is originally from St. Mary’s, Ont., but now lives in Winnipeg. The workshop runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Millennium Library; tickets are $50 and are available through Eventbrite at wfp.to/bME.

● ● ●

Character actor Dick Miller has performed, often with bit parts, in everything from Roger Corman B-movies in the 1960s to soap operas to 1984’s The Terminator.

Now, Winnipeg film writer Caelum Vatnsdal tells the story of the cult-movie legend and his 60-year-plus career in You Don’t Know Me, But You Love Me.

Vatnsdal, who has written books on Canadian horror films and the films of Guy Maddin, launches his book at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

● ● ●

The saga of Steven Galloway, the bestselling novelist and former head of the UBC’s creative writing program, isn’t coming to an end any time soon.

Galloway, who was suspended in 2015 and later fired from his position amid allegations of improper conduct, has launched a defamation lawsuit against two dozen people, including two former colleagues, several former students and the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

After the lawsuit became public, a GoFundMe campaign was launched for the defendants. In a little more than a day, the campaign reached its initial $50,000 goal, with pledges from writers across Canada.

booknewsbob@gmail.com