Book awards back Sept. 19 with six prizes

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The Manitoba Book Awards marks its return at a free awards ceremony on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 19 at the Park Theatre (698 Osborne St.), where six prizes will be awarded.

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The Manitoba Book Awards marks its return at a free awards ceremony on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 19 at the Park Theatre (698 Osborne St.), where six prizes will be awarded.

The finalists for Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for best first book are The Broken Detective by Joel Nedecky, Wavelength by Cale Plett and The World So Wide by Zilla Jones.

The Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award will be presented to one of Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival by Kevin Nikkel, Jinn in the Family by R.Y. Abdulrehman, Seeing You Home by Catherine Hunter or That’ll Never Work Here: Challenging the Myths Around Biking in a Winter City; The City Project, Book 2 by Patty Wiens.

Finalists for the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for non-fiction are Heal the Beasts: A Jaunt Through the Curious History of the Veterinary Arts by Philipp Schott, The Dollar A Year Men: How the Best Business Brains in Canada Helped to Win the Second World War by Allan Levine, Seeking Spirit: A Vietnamese (Non)Buddhist Memoir by Linda Trinh and Living Language Rights: Constitutional Pathways to Indigenous Language Education by Lorena Sekwan Fontaine.

The three finalists for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction are all two-time nominees: Jinn in the Family by R.Y. Abdulrehman, Seeing You Home by Catherine Hunter and The World so Wide by Zilla Jones.

And the contenders for the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry are Acutely Life by Sue Sorensen, Goose by Melanie Dennis Unrau, Il n’y aura pas de safety word by Dominique Hétu, Scientific Marvel by Chimwemwe Undi and What Fills Your House Like Smoke by E. McGregor.

Finalists for the French-language prize, Le prix littéraire Rue-Deschambault, are Pauline Boutal, entre les toiles et les planches by Lise Gaboury-Diallo, Poésie franco-ouestienne, 1974-2024 by J.R. Léveillé and Sous les tilleuls by Bertrand Nayet.

Doors open at noon for the Manitoba Book Awards ceremony, which will begin at 1 p.m. and be hosted by Shelagh Rogers.

● ● ●

The book-launch calendar at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location is filling up quickly heading into fall. Among the events in the coming week:

• Raye Anderson launches No Shelter for the Wicked, the second book in her Elspeth Laird series of mysteries set in Scotland, today at 7 p.m., where she’ll be joined in conversation by Patti Grayson.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

• Winnipeg author and University of Manitoba professor Christine Stewart-Nuñez launches Silence and Seizure: Parenting Through Complexity, the story of her learning to raise a son with a rare epilepsy syndrome and becoming an advocate, on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

• U of M professors Sean Carleton and Niigaan Sinclair launch the essay collection Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism on Thursday at 7 p.m., where they’ll be joined by contributors to the collection as well as by Michelle Good and host Shelagh Rogers.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

(For a review of Truth Before Reconciliation, click here.)

• Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation author and psychotherapist/behavioural scientist Louis Busch launches Carry Your Heart: Indigenous Helping Wisdom and the Science of Psychological Flexibility on Friday at 7 p.m. The book offers teachings from Indigenous knowledge holders on navigating suffering and addressing trauma and foster well-being.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

● ● ●

The short list for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for non-fiction were announced Sept. 9, with five titles in the running for the $75,000 prize.

And the finalists are: Decadence by Richard Kelly Kemick, In Trees: An Exploration by Robert Moor, Black Bear: A Story of Siblinghood and Survival by Trina Moyles, We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World by Dan Werb.

The winner will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards ceremony on Nov. 10 in Toronto.

ben.sigurdson@winnipegfreepress.com

Ben Sigurdson

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.

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