J.W. Dafoe prize long list includes Sinclair, Friesen
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Three books with Manitoba connections have made the 10-book long list for the 2025 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize.
The prize, named after former Manitoba Free Press (and then Winnipeg Free Press) editor John Wesley Dafoe, honours what jurors deem the best book “on Canada, Canadians, and/or Canada’s place in the world,” and comes with a $12,000 prize.
Among the longlisted titles for this year’s prize is Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair’s Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre, in which Sinclair examines Canada’s relationship with Indigenous communities through a Winnipeg-centred lens. Wînipêk won Sinclair the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction.
Another award-winning local book on the list is Winnipeg author Gerald Friesen’s The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman, published by University of Manitoba Press. The book won the Margaret McWilliams Award in the scholarly category and the Association for Manitoba Archives’ Manitoba Day Award for scholarly works from the Manitoba Historical Society, among other awards.
U of M Press also earned a nod for Edmonton-based Crystal Gail Fraser’s By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
The jurors for this year’s prize were Patricia Bovey, Gregory Mason and Dale Barbour. The five-book short list will be revealed in the coming weeks, with the winner announced Oct. 14. For more on the prize and the full list of longlisted titles, see dafoefoundation.ca/book-prize.
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Don’t look now, but McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location has another stacked week of book launches coming up.
At 7 p.m. tonight, award-winning and bestselling comics creators Jeff Lemire and Jenn Woodall come to town to talk about their trade as part of the Prairie Comics Festival, which runs today and tomorrow. (For those interested in checking out the fest, the event runs today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon-5 p.m. at the Manitoba Museum, 190 Rupert Ave., and is free to attend).
On Sunday, Michigan-based Chippewa author Angeline Boulley will stop by the bookstore at 3:30 p.m. to discuss her mystery novel Sisters in the Wind with Anishinaabe artist Danielle Roulette.
The latest by the author of Firekeeper’s Daughter follows a foster teen who sets off to find the truth about her Ojibwe heritage, but must navigate people and events from her past.
On Wednesday, award-winning Winnipeg poet and fiction writer Catherine Hunter will discuss her latest, the short-story collection Seeing You Home, at 7 p.m. with fellow writer Margaret Sweatman.
The collection of linked stories follow a couple from their first meeting to their waning days together, as one battles cancer in the St. Boniface Hospital.
Thursday sees award-winning Swampy Cree author David A. Robertson launch the last book in his middle-grade Misewa Saga, The World’s End, at 7 p.m., where he’ll be joined in conversation by Rosanna Deerchild. The wildly popular series concludes with Eli, Morgan and Emily, freed from captivity, needing to protect Misewa from the dangers of colonization.
The middle-grade book launches continue on Friday, when Manitoba author Ryan James Black launches The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham at 7 p.m., where he’ll be joined by Winnipeg TV and radio personality Drew Kozub.
The novel follows the title character, who unknowingly unleashes a shadow monster into the streets of wartime London, and must team up with a ragtag group of youths to stop it.
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The Canadian Independent Booksellers Association has launched the first edition of The Booksellers’ List, which shows off the top 20 upcoming books as voted for by over 200 indie booksellers.
Top of the list is Giller Prize winner Souvankham Thammavongsa’s forthcoming novel Pick a Colour; other anticipated books include Margaret Atwood’s memoir Book of Lives, the essay collection Elbows Up!, Billy-Ray Belcourt’s The Idea of an Entire Life, Mona Awad’s We Love You, Bunny and Shani Mootoo’s Starry Starry Night.
To see and learn more about the entire list, see indiebookstores.ca.
books@freepress.mb.ca
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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