Scotch River, a novel by River John, N.S., writer Linda Little, has won three awards, including book of the year, at the Atlantic Book Awards.
Little's story about a former rodeo rider rediscovering his past in the Maritimes won the $1,500 Dartmouth Book Award for fiction and the $10,000 Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize, the richest prize in Atlantic Canadian literature.
Linda Little's book, Scotch River, is about a former rodeo driver discovering his past.
(Atlantic book Awards)
Little, who won with her second novel, came out ahead of more experienced writer Wayne Johnston for The Custodian of Paradise and Ami McKay for The Birth House.
Winners of the Atlantic Book Awards were honoured Friday night at a ceremony in Halifax hosted by CBC-Radio One's Costas Halavrezos.
The Birth House, a debut novel that shot to bestseller lists that is about a midwife in a small Nova Scotia town, won the Booksellers' Choice Award for McKay, who is based in Scots Bay, N.S.
A biography of Canada's youngest war artist, Bruno Bobak, who trained under Group of Seven member Arthur Lismer before going off to record the Second World War, won the Best Atlantic Published Book Award.Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette was edited by Bernard Riordon, director of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.
CBC journalist nabs non-fiction prize
Steve McOrmond, a Toronto-based poet, won the $5,000 Atlantic poetry prize for his collection Primer on the Hereafter. He was born in Nova Scotia and grew up on Prince Edward Island.
CBC journalist Linden MacIntyre's memoir captured the Evelyn Richardson Prize for non-fiction.
(Atlantic book Awards)
Linden MacIntyre, a CBC journalist and host of The Fifth Estate, won the Evelyn Richardson Prize for non-fiction for his memoir Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, which tells the story of his family life on Cape Breton before the construction of the causeway linking it to the mainland.
The Dartmouth Book Award for non-fiction went to A Race for Real Sailors: The Bluenose and the International Fishermen's Cup, by Keith McLaren, who lives in North Saanich, B.C., and is ship's master of the ferry The Spirit of Vancouver Island. The book is about the punishing ocean course during the race that ran from 1920 to 1938.
Halifax children's writer Budge Wilson won the Ann Connor Brimer Children's Literature Prize for her collection of short stories, Friendships. It is the second win for Wilson, who took the prize in 1994 for Oliver's War.
The stories for young people age eight and up deal with contemporary issues such as phobias, absent parents and bullying.
Brenda Jones's pictures of Skunks for Breakfast won the $500 Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Illustration. The children's book by Lesley Choyce tells the story of a father and daughter's struggle with some smelly guests.
John G. Langley, who could not attend the ceremony, was winner of the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard, about the Halifax-born shipping magnate.
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly presented the Mayor's Award for Illustration to Jeffrey C. Domm for his work on Formac Pocketguide to Fossils and an award for cultural achievement in literature to Sandra McInytre, managing editor of Nimbus Publishing.
The Atlantic Book Awards are given annually at the end of the Atlantic Book Festival by the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia, and a group of Atlantic booksellers and awards foundations.
Related
More Books Headlines »
- Brand, Poliquin to vie for Ontario book prize
- Dionne Brand, Wayne Johnston and Daniel Poliquin are among the 2007 nominees for Ontario's $20,000 writing prize, the Trillium Book Awards.
- Business book award goes to work urging action on environment
- University of Toronto professor Thomas Homer-Dixon has won the $20,000 National Business Book Award for his book about impending energy, environmental and economic stresses in today's world.
- Australian team unveils aboriginal-language Bible
- The world's most widely translated book has added another language to its collection: the Australian aboriginal tongue Kriol. The first fully translated Bible in Kriol is now making its way across Australia.
- Former soldier's Iraq memoir wins book-from-a-blog prize
- A former U.S. machine gunner's irreverent memoir about his year fighting in Iraq has won the second annual prize for the best book based on a blog.
- Scotch River by Linda Little wins Atlantic book of the year
- Scotch River, a novel by Nova Scotia writer Linda Little, has captured three Atlantic Book Awards, including book of the year.
More Arts Headlines »
- Cannes ready to roll out red carpet
- Michael Moore and Quentin Tarantino will be joining Canadian filmmakers including Denys Arcand and Sarah Polley on the red carpet at the 60th annual Cannes Film Festival.
- Phil Spector admitted to killing, chauffeur testifies
- Phil Spector's murder trial finally brought the jury to the moment of actress Lana Clarkson's death when his driver calmly testified that he heard a "pow" as he waited outside the record producer's mansion.
- Country Music Awards pay tribute to new and old talent
- Kenny Chesney collected his third consecutive entertainer of the year trophy Tuesday as the Academy of Country Music also paid tribute to a youngster and some oldsters.
- U.S. police officer nabbed in case of plagiarized play
- An Ohio police officer who dabbles in amateur theatre has been suspended from work for plagiarizing a Canadian play and staging it as his own.
- Spielberg, Jackson team up for Tintin trilogy
- Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are set to tackle a new film trilogy about beloved comic strip journalist and adventurer Tintin.
