Bergen best again at book awards

Bergen best again at book awards

For the fifth time in his career and the second year in a row, Winnipeg novelist David Bergen has won the top prize at the Manitoba Book Awards.

On Thursday, June 9, Bergen was announced as the winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award for his slim novel Out of Mind, published by Goose Lane Editions in September 2021. It follows last year’s win for his story collection Here the Dark; Bergen also won for 1996’s A Year of Lesser, 2005’s The Time in Between and 2009’s The Retreat.

There were a few surprises in terms of winners in some of the other categories, including a pair of prizes that saw two authors share wins. Rowan McCandless’s memoir Persephone’s Children: A Life in Fragments and Jillian Horton’s We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing shared the Eileen McTavish Sykes award for best first book, while the Margaret Laurence Award for fiction was shared by Patricia Robertson for her story collection Hour of the Crab and Bob Armstrong for his western Prodigies.

The top non-fiction prize, the Alexander Kennedy Isbister award for non-fiction, went to Dadibaajim: Returning Home Through Narrative, by Helen Olsen Agger, while the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book award was won by Seream for his book Mont-Blanc-Winnipeg Express. The Lansdowne prize for poetry was won by Joel Robert Ferguson for The Lost Cafeteria, while the Michael Van Rooy award for genre fiction was won by Catherine Macdonald for her novel So Many Windings.

A quick look at where provinces and territories stand on time changes

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's government said Thursday the province will be sticking with daylight time year-round, making it the latest jurisdiction to move away from twice-annual time changes. Here's a look at where things stand across Canada:

British Columbia said in March that it was moving to permanent Pacific daylight time. The change also means that parts of northeastern B.C., which have been on mountain standard time year round, are now in alignment with the rest of the province.

Alberta also switched to permanent daylight time this year in what it calls Alberta time. The change means it now has the same time as Saskatchewan year round.

Saskatchewan has been on permanent central standard time since 1966.

Jets GM insists club’s not working under any deadline in netminder’s trade request

Connor Hellebuyck and his family were subject to so much post-Olympic vitriol that both the Winnipeg Jets security team and even police had to get involved.

Gillingham in lead with decided voters

A cloud of uncertainty is hanging over Winnipeg as October’s municipal election nears.

Three months after a poll showed more than 40 per cent of Winnipeggers wanted to see someone other than current mayor Scott Gillingham elected, a new Abacus Data poll indicates more than half of Winnipeg voters are undecided heading into next month’s civic election.

Of decided voters, 55 per cent favour Gillingham compared to 23 per cent for former councillor and provincial cabinet minister Kevin Klein and 11 per cent for funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis.

Of all respondents, just over 50 per cent said they were unsure while 13 per cent said they will not vote.

Jets vets weigh in on franchise goalie Hellebuyck not reporting to training camp

Hockey is the ultimate team sport, where it’s supposed to be about the crest on your chest rather than the name on your back.

So how is Connor Hellebuyck’s trade request and subsequent training camp strike playing out inside the Winnipeg Jets locker room — particularly among other core players he’s gone to battle with over the years?

“Obviously the news is heartbreaking,” Jets forward Kyle Connor said Thursday.

“It feels like we had such a special group here and for whatever reason — I can’t speak to the reason until we hear from the man, I’m not going to speculate on what it is but I know that a lot of guys in that room that are heartbroken.”

Klein has burned bridges with PM, Gillingham says

One mayoral candidate accused another of writing a column so critical it could compromise his ability to work with the federal government.