And the nominees are …
The 36 books shortlisted for awards to be presented during the 2022 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival were revealed today during the Atlantic Spotlight at the Frye Festival in Moncton, NB. The nominated titles represent a wide range of books from Atlantic Canada, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children’s books.
The books shortlisted for 12 different prizes comprise 28 authors and three illustrators across 16 publishers, representing the best in Atlantic Canadian writing and publishing.
This year features the inaugural Nova Scotia Book Awards gala, celebrating those prizes open only to Nova Scotian authors. These provincial awards were previously awarded as part of the regional Atlantic Book Awards.
The Atlantic Book Awards Festival, a hybrid of in-person and virtual events featuring shortlisted authors and illustrators, runs June 2–9. A highlight this year is the Nova Scotia Book Awards ceremony, which will take place at Halifax City Hall on Monday, June 6.
The Atlantic Book Awards Gala takes place on Thursday, June 9, at Paul O’Regan Hall in Halifax Central Library. The awards ceremony will also be live streamed so book lovers across the region and beyond can join in the celebration.
The Atlantic Legacy Award, honouring an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the advancement and encouragement of the literary arts in Atlantic Canada, will also be presented at the Atlantic Book Awards Gala on June 9.
2022 Nova Scotia Book Awards
Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award
- Stephen Kimber, Alexa!: Changing the Face of Canadian Politics (Goose Lane Editions)
- Susan MacLeod, Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care (Conundrum Press)
- Donna Morrissey, Pluck: A Memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to Becoming a Novelist (Penguin Random House Canada)
George Borden Writing for Change Award
- Glen Canning (with Susan McClelland), My Daughter Rehtaeh Parsons (Goose Lane Editions)
- Stephen Kimber, Alexa!: Changing the Face of Canadian Politics (Goose Lane Editions)
- Don Oliver, A Matter of Equality: The Life’s Work of Senator Don Oliver (Nimbus)
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Fiction)
- Alexandra Harrington, The Last Time I Saw Her (Nimbus)
- C. S. Porter, Beneath Her Skin (Nimbus)
- Colin Sweets Arsenault, Short Mercy (Pottersfield Press)
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Non-Fiction)
- Joanne Gallant, A Womb in the Shape of a Heart: My Story of Miscarriage and Motherhood (Nimbus)
- Susan MacLeod, Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care (Conundrum Press)
- Don Oliver, A Matter of Equality: The Life’s Work of Senator Don Oliver (Nimbus)
Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction)
- Hannah Moscovitch, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (Playwrights Canada Press)
- Sharon Robart-Johnson, Jude and Diana (Fernwood Publishing)
- Colin Sweets Arsenault, Short Mercy (Pottersfield Press)
2022 Atlantic Book Awards Shortlist
Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction
- David Huebert, Chemical Valley (Biblioasis)
- Amber McMillan, The Running Trees (Goose Lane Editions)
- Claire Wilkshire, The Love Olympics (Breakwater Books)
Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature
- Jodie Callaghan, The Train (Second Story Press)
- Chad Lucas, Thanks a Lot, Universe (Amulet Books)
- Rebecca Thomas, Swift Fox All Along (Annick Press)
APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
- Breakwater Books, My Indian by Saqamaw Mi’sel Joe & Sheila O’Neill
- Goose Lane Editions, Alexa! Changing the Face of Canadian Politics by Stephen Kimber
- Goose Lane Editions with The Rooms Corporation, Future Possible: An Art History of Newfoundland and Labrador by Mireille Eagan
Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing
- Matthew W. Betts & M. Gabriel Hrynick, The Archaeology of the Atlantic Northeast (University of Toronto Press)
- George Elliott Clarke, Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir (Knopf Canada)
- Ardath Whynacht, Insurgent Love: Abolition and Domestic Homicide (Fernwood Publishing)
J. M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award
- Alyda Faber, Poisonous if Eaten Raw (Goose Lane Editions)
- Triny Finlay, Myself a Paper Clip (Goose Lane Editions)
- Rebecca Salazar, Sulphurtongue (Penguin Random House)
Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration
- Marie Lafrance, Gemma and the Giant Girl, written by Sara O’Leary (Tundra)
- Alea Marley, This is Ruby written by Sara O’Leary (Tundra)
- Réjean Roy, Le Géant du Nord Canadien written by Réjean Roy (Bouton d’or Acadie)
Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award
- Michelle Butler Hallett, Constant Nobody (Goose Lane Editions)
- David Huebert, Chemical Valley (Biblioasis)
- Sharon Robart-Johnson, Jude and Diana (Fernwood Publishing)
The Atlantic Book Awards Society extends a big congratulations to all of this year’s nominees.
The board of the non-profit Atlantic Book Awards Society is made up of representatives of the Atlantic Canadian book and writing community. We’d like to thank the Frye Festival for presenting this year’s shortlist. The 2022 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of our partners and sponsors: the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, Atlantic Books Today, Halifax Public Libraries, New Brunswick’s Frye Festival, and the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia.