Valérie Bah wins Amazon Canada First Novel Award for ‘Subterrane’
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/06/2025 (483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
TORONTO – Valérie Bah’s speculative comedy “Subterrane” has won the $60,000 Amazon Canada First Novel Award.
The Quebec author and filmmaker accepted the prize at a ceremony in Toronto on Thursday night.
The novel follows a filmmaker documenting the lives of queer and Black characters who are pushed underground by urban prosperity in the fictional city of New Stockholm.
The documentarian focuses on the death of an activist protesting a construction project.
In addition to writing and filmmaking, Bah is a massage therapist.
Other finalists include Benjamin Hertwig for “Juiceboxers,” about four young soldiers serving in Afghanistan, and Vancouver-based Myriam Lacroix for the genre-bending “How It Works Out,” in which a lesbian couple’s relationship is reimagined through multiple scenarios.
Also in the running were Andrew Boden of Burnaby, B.C., for “When We Were Ashes,” about disabled children in Nazi Germany; Halifax writer David Huebert for “Oil People,” about two families locked in a bitter rivalry that lasts generations; and Calgary’s Natalie Sue for the tender comedy “I Hope This Finds You Well,” about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens.
Each shortlisted novelist receives $6,000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.
