08 Apr

Twenty-Four Books Nominated for 2015 Atlantic Book Awards

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The Atlantic Book Awards Society is pleased to announce the full shortlist for the eight different book prizes comprising the 2015 Atlantic Book Awards. The twenty-four books up for awards represent a wide range of books from Atlantic Canada—everything from illustrated cookbooks to evocative novels. The full shortlist is printed below and is available at www.atlanticbookawards.ca.

Among the more familiar names on the shortlist are former CBC host Linden MacIntyre for his novel, Punishment (Random House Canada); comedian Andy Jones for Jack, the King of Ashes(Running Goat Books & Broadsides); and illustrator Sydney Smith for Music is for Everyone,written by singer Jill Barber (Nimbus Publishing). Musician Alan Doyle is short-listed for his work, Where I Belong:  Small Town to Great Big Sea and Gordon Pitts is nominated for his book about the late Purdy Crawford, Fire in the Belly (Nimbus Publishing).

The region’s book publishers are well represented on the shortlist with sixteen of the twenty-four nominations going to books published by Atlantic publishers. Halifax’s Nimbus Publishing leads, having published three of the shortlisted titles, while Newfoundland’s Breakwater Books andCreative Publishing each have two nominations, as do Nova Scotia’s Formac and Roseway Publishing with two nominated titles each.  Other local publishers include Island Studies Press(PEI), Pottersfield Press (NS), Boulder Publications (NL), ISER Books (NL) and Running Goat Books & Broadsides (NL).

The Atlantic Book Awards Society announced the nominees Tuesday evening, April 7, at a fundraising event at the new Halifax Central Library, that featured author Jon Tattrie hosting a conversation with fellow writers Valerie Compton, Alexander MacLeod and Ami McKay.

The 2015 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival runs May 7-14 with free literary events in all four provinces. Festival details will be available at www.atlanticbookawards.ca soon. Winners of the 2015 Atlantic Book Awards will be announced at a special awards show on the last night of the weeklong festival, Thursday, May 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Alderney Landing Theatre in Dartmouth, and tickets will on sale by April 15 at Ticketpro.ca.

The Board of the non-profit Atlantic Book Awards Society is made up of representatives of the Atlantic Canadian book and writing community. The 2015 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, Halifax Public Libraries and the sponsorship of the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association/Atlantic Books Today and Chapters/Indigo/Coles.

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Media contact:  Peggy Walt – peggy@culturalaffairs.ca (902) 422-5403
Cell:  (902) 476-1096

Web Site: www.atlanticbookawards.ca
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AtlanticBookAwardsSociety
Twitter:     http://twitter.com/atlbookawards

2015 ATLANTIC BOOK AWARDS and FESTIVAL SHORTLIST

1.  Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
Jack, the King of Ashes
By Andy Jones
Publisher: Running Goat Books & Broadsides

Dear Canada:  Flame and Ashes:  The Great Fire Diary of Triffie Winsor
By Janet McNaughton
Publisher: Scholastic Canada Ltd.

The End of the Line
By Sharon E. McKay
Publisher:  Annick Press Ltd.

2.  APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award, Sponsored by Friesens Corporation
Breakwater Books for
A Sudden Sun
By:  Trudy J. Morgan-Cole

Nimbus Publishing for
Atlantic Coastal Gardening:  Growing Inspired, Resilient Plants by the Sea
By:  Denise Adams

Creative Book Publishing for
Island Kitchen:  An Ode to Newfoundland
By Chef Mark McCrowe with Sasha Okshevsky

3.  Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing, Sponsored by Marquis Book Printing
Equal as Citizens:  The Tumultuous and Troubled History of a Great Canadian Idea
By Richard Starr
Publisher:  Formac Publishing Company Ltd.

Those Splendid Girls: The Heroic Service of Prince Edward Island Nurses in the Great War
By Katherine Dewar
Publisher:  Island Studies Press

Bringing Home Animals:  Mistissini Hunters of Northern Quebec (2nd Ed.)
By Adrian Tanner
Publisher:  ISER Books, Memorial University of Newfoundland

4.  Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction in Memory of Robbie Robertson,
Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth
Fire in the Belly:  How Purdy Crawford rescued Canada, and changed the way we do business
By Gordon Pitts
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Double Pregnant:  Two Lesbians Make a Family
By Natalie Meisner
Publisher: Roseway Publishing

Winds of Change:  The Life and Legacy of Calvin W. Ruck
By Lindsay Ruck
Publisher: Pottersfield Press

5.  Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing
Perished:  The 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster
By Jenny Higgins
Publisher: Boulder Publications

Something of a Peasant Paradise?:  Comparing Rural Societies in Acadie and the Loudunais, 1604-1755
By Gregory M. W. Kennedy
Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press

They Called Me Chocolate Rocket:  The Life and Times of John Paris, Jr., Hockey’s First Black Professional Coach
By John Paris Jr. with Robert Ashe
Publisher:  Formac Publishing Company Ltd.

6.  Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction), presented by Boyne Clarke
Punishment
By Linden MacIntyre
Publisher:  Random House Canada

Just Beneath My Skin
By Darren Greer
Publisher:  Cormorant Books

Grist:  a novel
By Linda Little
Publisher: Roseway Publishing

7.  Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration
Illustrator:  Sydney Smith (nominee)
Music is for Everyone
(Written by Jill Barber)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Illustrator: Michael Pittman (nominee)
Wow Wow and Haw Haw
(Written by George Murray)
Publisher: Breakwater Books

Illustrator:  Nancy Rose (nominee)
The Secret Life of Squirrels
(Written by Nancy Rose)
Publisher: Penguin Canada

8.  Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, sponsored by Collins Barrow LLP, Weed Man Maritimes, and the family of John and Margaret Savage
Vienna Nocturne: a novel
By Vivien Shotwell
Publisher:  Doubleday Canada

Eating Habits of the Chronically Lonesome:  stories
By Megan Gail Coles
Publisher: Creative Book Publishing

Where I Belong:  Small Town to Great Big Sea
By Alan Doyle
Publisher: Doubleday Canada