Manitoba Book Awards: 2012 Nominees

I often forget how expansive Canada is until I have to announce all the regional and provincial book award programmes.  Then, I find myself blogging post after post of worthy Canadian books, authors, illustrators and publishers which really do reflect the unique nature of each area.  As such,  it's only fitting that there are the Manitoba Book Awards which are administered by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers, with assistance from their numerous partners (Aqua Books, Friesens, the Manitoba Arts Council, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, McNally Robinson Booksellers, Prairie Fire, the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, the Winnipeg Foundation, the Winnipeg Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts).

The 2012 nominees for the Manitoba Book Awards were announced yesterday, with the presentation of awards scheduled for the gala on Saturday April 28th at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain and hosted by Drek Daa.  If I was fortunate enough to live near Winnipeg, I'd be delighted to attend this event which is free and open to the public.

The Manitoba Book Awards consist of the following thirteen categories:

• Aqua Lansdowne Prize for Poetry / Prix Lansdowne de poésie

• Best Illustrated Book of the Year / Meilleur livre illustré de l’année

• Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year / Prix Manuela-Dias de conception graphique en édition

• Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book

• Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award / Prix littéraire Carol-Shields de la ville de Winnipeg

• Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction

• Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction

• Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction / Prix Alexander-Kennedy-Isbister pour les études et essais

• John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer

• Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher / Prix Mary-Scorer pour le meilleur livre par un éditeur du Manitoba

• McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award

• Younger Category
• Older Category

• McNally Robinson Book of the Year

As I always do like to focus on the awards for younger readers, I've included the short-listed nominees for the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award.

In the Younger Category:

Annie’s Bright Idea: A Christmastime Adventure 
by Audrhea Lande
Illustrated by Jenny Prest
Self-published

Nanabosho and the Butterflies 
by Joe and Matrine McLellan
Illustrated by Jackie Traverse
Pemmican Publications

S is for Science: A Discovery of Alphabet 
by Larry Verstraete
Sleeping Bear Press

In the Older Category:

Case Files: 40 Murders and Mysteries Solved by Science 
by Larry Verstraete
Scholastic

Kingdom of Trolls 
by Rae Bridgman
Sybertooth

Tori by Design 
by Colleen Nelson
Great Plains Teen Fiction






 
Find more details on this year's nominees at the Manitoba Writers' Guild or about the awards in general at the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers .

The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel

by Y. S. Lee

Candlewick Press

978-0-7636-5316-3

373 pp.

Ages 12+

2012

Mary Quinn, née Mary Lang, rescued from hanging (she was a 12 year-old-thief) by Anne Treleaven and Felicity Frame, is now a full member of  The Agency, a covert operation that uses women agents to investigate suspicious activities in Victorian London.  In her first cases (A Spy in the House, Candlewick, 2010; The Body at the Tower, Candlewick, 2010), Mary learned to disguise herself effectively, first as a lady's paid companion and then as a young boy, and now she is  employed as an upper housemaid at Buckingham Palace in order to investigate several recent thefts.  Also similar to her earlier cases, she connects with the intriguing Mr. James Easton, of Easton Engineering, a man who incites both anger and affection in her.

Much in the style of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries, the reader becomes acquainted with Victorian society from Queen Victoria and her family through the honourable upper class to the domestic servants and the working poor and below all are those whose heritage (e.g., Asian) and vices (e.g., opium, thievery) afford them nothing.  As an undercover agent, Mary has learned to adjust herself according to her company but she can never hide from herself the fact that her father was a Chinese sailor, making her "half-caste".  That said, when the Prince of Wales, Bertie to his mother, Queen Victoria, becomes enmeshed in a murder in which an Asiatic sailor named Lang Jin Hai is arrested, Mary must reconcile her emotions regarding her long-lost father.

In the true fashion of a well-plotted mystery, all encounters, actions and words provide layers to the mystery.  The thefts and murder, already intertwining Buckingham Palace and Mary's father, become further entangled with the suspicious ventures of the Queen's lady-in-waiting, Honoria Dalrymple; the courting of a fellow domestic by the unscrupulous reporter Mr. Octavius Jones; lack of communication from The Agency; and intimate and invaluable meetings with Mr. James Easton.

Just as great mysteries are tightly woven to prevent comprehension from penetrating too easily, they are said to unravel, thread by thread, sometimes more quickly, sometimes with resistance.  As such, The Traitor in the Tunnel is a great mystery, dense with characters and subplots and the palpable Victorian London atmosphere, in which the single loose thread needed to unravel it is elusive.  But Mary Quinn, with James Easton's assistance, is dauntless in her search for answers.  Ultimately it is only the enigma that is Mary herself that must be resolved.

Author Y. S. Lee's text is rich in picturesque detail leading the reader through the rooms of Buckingham Palace to the dankness of the underground tunnel and sewer system of London circa 1860, creating an entity of the setting itself.  Coupled with authentic dialogue, varying depending on the characters, and Mary's introspective voice, The Traitor in the Tunnel's multi-fold mysteries and romantic flavour will engage the reader completely and leave them anticipating great new beginnings for Mary.

Virginia Wolf

Written by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Kids Can Press
978-1-55453-649-8
32 pp.
Ages 5-10
2012

As all readers do, I tried to predict the story of Virginia Wolf, without reading the jacket flaps or blurbs. I was sure it was a retelling of a story in which a wolf named Virginia went after a little girl in a yellow dress, treeing her. I should have known that Kyo Maclear, author of Spork (Kids Can Press, 2010) and adult book, The Letter Opener (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) could not pen such a superficial story.  She didn't.

Virginia, awakens feeling "wolfish": dark, unhappy, reclusive, determined to shut out the noises of the world. Her sister, Vanessa, is surprised by the extent of Virginia's doldrums, and unsuccessfully tries to cheer her up. Only when she makes the effort to ask Virginia what she needs is Vanessa successful in using her artistry to engage Virginia and brighten her mood.

In Virginia Wolf, Kyo Maclear's Virginia suffers from "wolfishness", expressively represented by Isabelle Arsenault's frenetic, shadowy illustrations. But Isabelle Arsenault's joyous Bloomsbury of flowers, greenery and iced cakes exemplifies the soothing beauty of Vanessa's artwork which brings relief to her sister's dark mood.

Kyo Maclear's text accentuates the overwhelming nature of Virginia's mood while depicting the nebulous attempts by Vanessa to help her sister. Appropriately, the reversal is gradual, with a swing to help change direction, a ladder to lead upward, and a gray snail that unanticipatedly reaches a mountain top.

"Down becomes up. Dim becomes bright. Gloom becomes glad."

Virginia Wolf is loosely based on the relationship between writer Virginia Wolf (1882-1941) and her sister, painter Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), who both helped establish the Bloomsbury Group, a guild of creative thinkers. The real Virginia Wolf suffered from mental illness, which manifested itself in depression, nervous breakdowns and ultimately her suicide. The sisters' names and the references to their brother Thorby and Bloomsbury suggest that Virginia Wolf is Kyo Maclear's uncomplicated take on depression and how it is experienced intrinsically and extrinsically. The alliance of Maclear's tale with Arsenault's illustrations has produced an accurate, touching, and enlightening portrayal of caring.

***

This unique book trailer for Virginia Wolf, narrated by a young voice, helps promote the need to understand how to help anyone who may feel "wolfish".

Uploaded by kyomaclear1 on Feb 13, 2012 to YouTube.

Author Alice Kuipers: Guest Post

With the recent release of 40 Things I Want To Tell You (HarperCollins Canada, 2012), reviewed here on 02/23/2012, author Alice Kuipers has kindly agreed to share some of her writing tips with her readers.

 Welcome

*   Alice Kuipers   *

I’m really glad to be visiting you during my blog tour – thanks for the terrific, mind-blowing review. I loved reading it (it actually made me cry)!

I thought today I’d post a little bit on a writing tip that inspires me. Just as Bird, the main character in 40 Things I Want To Tell You, loves to give tips and advice, I figured I’d do the same thing!

I have read several writers who’ve said they don’t believe in writer's block. I used to wonder what they meant by that, how could they not believe in it, surely being stuck was part of the writing process. Now I think this tip is one of the most useful writing tips ever. Writer's block is something that real writers don’t have time for. For writers, sitting at their desk and writing is their job and they get on with it. If a story doesn’t seem like it’s working, or a character isn’t doing whatever they’re supposed to do, then a writer can just get up and walk away. They can write something else for a while, or read a book. But they can’t let themselves believe in writer’s block because it’s a waste of precious writing time.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t get confused by what I’m trying to do on the page, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t hard. It’s really hard. Every day, writing is awkward and stressful and confusing and difficult. But if it wasn’t difficult, then I wouldn’t love doing it.

Someone much cleverer than me said, "You earn the good days.” I wish I could remember who, because they are right. By writing through the tough times and through the days when it makes no sense, a writer earns those blessed days when the words flow and the story seems, even for an hour, utterly perfect.

Come and visit me at www.alicekuipers.com for writing tips, advice or just to say hello!

***

If you missed Alice Kuipers TwitterChat about writing on 

March 7, 2012, be sure to check out the Savvy Reader to read her answers to readers' questions.

In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up

by Monica Kulling

Illustrated by David Parkins

Tundra Books

978-1-77049-239-4

32 pp.

Ages 5-9

2011

Margaret (Mattie) Knight was one of those amazing women who never let her gender stand in her way, though others tried.  As a young girl in mid-1800's New Hampshire, Mattie enjoyed building purposeful items from wood, using the tools inherited from her father who'd died when she was 3.  She built kites and sleds, but when she began to work in a cotton mill (still as a young girl), she put her inventing skills to greater use.  While captivated by the looms and other large machinery involved in spinning and weaving, Mattie recognized inherent dangers therein and designed a device that prevented moving shuttles from blasting off when threads broke.

Mattie was only 12 when she invented this stop-motion device, preventing her from registering a patent for it, but she consoled herself with the injuries her device prevented.  Never marrying, Mattie continued to dream up machines when she wasn't working.  In 1868, when she worked at a paper-bag factory, Mattie was inspired to design a machine that would cut, fold and paste a paper bag with a flat bottom.  It was only because of her perseverance, toiling for years on her machine and then taking a patent thief to court, that Mattie was able to establish herself as the ingenious woman inventor she was.

Biographies can be dry reading for children, as can most non-fiction, if the authors and publishers forget to focus on those features of text that make the reading compelling.  Tundra's Great Ideas Series, with three volumes all penned by Monica Kulling, tell biographies as stories, emphasizing the milestones of visionaries' ideas, rather than the minutiae of their timelines.  Enhanced with detailed and appealing illustrations by David Parkins, The Beano contributor and émigré from the United Kingdom, In the Bag! seems less non-fiction and more picture book, favourably widening its readership.

With In the Bag!, Monica Kulling demonstrates a knack she has for crafting reader-friendly biographies for children.  Her earlier books in the Great Ideas Series of illustrated biographies, It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph (Tundra, 2009) and All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine (Tundra, 2010), have been nominated for the OLA's Silver Birch Express Award (2011 and 2012, respectively), with  In the Bag! currently nominated for a Shining Willow Award.  I suspect that the release of Going Up! Elisha Otis' Trip To The Top (Tundra, fall 2012) will similarly find an eager audience of young readers who appreciate the colourful tales of innovation, all the more intriguing for their factual nature.

CBC Bookie Awards 2012

In 2011, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) introduced the CBC Bookie Awards as an opportunity for readers to choose their favourite Canadian reads published the previous year.  Based on the selections of the well-read CBC personnel from CBC Books, Canada Reads, Writers & Company, The Next Chapter, as well as recommendations from the public, five titles in each of ten categories are nominated.  Readers can then cast their votes (only once per category per day).

This year's CBC Bookies Awards nominees were announced yesterday and voting must take place online before 11:59 p.m. ET of Saturday, March 31.  The winners will be announced at a CBC Twitter Chat (#CanLit) on Thursday, April 5.

This year's ten categories, which include two international ones, are:

• Literary Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Thriller, Mystery or Crime
• Science Fiction, Fantasy or Speculative Fiction
• Young Adult
• Graphic Novel or Comic Book
• Short Story Collection
• International Fiction
• International Non-Fiction

The one category relevant to CanLit for LittleCanadians is the Young Adult category.  The finalists for this category are:

Blink and Caution

by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick Press

The Gathering

by Kelley Armstrong
Doubleday Canada

No Ordinary Day

by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books

This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Canada

Tilt

by Alan Cumyn
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press

Use this CBC Bookies link to cast your vote(s) for your favourites in the Young Adult category, but only until the end of March 31, 2012.  (The ballot below is as it appears on the CBC Bookies website)

Retrieved from the CBC Bookies website on March 9, 2012.

Let CBC and others know what YACanLit are your favourites from 2011.

BC Book Prizes

The BC Book Prizes are annual literary awards selected by the West Coast Prize Society for writers and illustrators who are British Columbia or Yukon residents (or have lived there for three of the last five years).  Established in 1985, the BC Book Prizes take submissions until the end of January deadline, announcing their shortlists in the award-ravaged month of March.  The award-winning books and authors/illustrators are announced at a Book Prize Soirée in May in Vancouver.  The logo of the BC Book Prizes and the book seals for short-listed and winning titles  was created from BC artist, Roy Henry Vickers's work, Eagle Full Circle (1982).

Here are the seven categories for the BC Book Prizes:

• Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

• Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

• Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

• Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

• Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

• Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

• Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award

An additional award, the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence, which recognizes BC writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence there, is also presented at the Book Prizes Gala.

The finalists (i.e., shortlisted titles) for the 2012 BC Book Prizes were announced yesterday for all seven literary awards. Below CanLit for LittleCanadians has noted those titles for the two awards dedicated to books for young readers.

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

Awarded to the author of novels, including chapter books, aimed at juveniles and young adults, as well as non-fiction books for children (including biography) which have not been highly illustrated.

(from http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/about)

The 2012 finalists are:

Blood Red Road
Written by Moira Young
Doubleday Canada  

I’ll Be Watching
Written by Pamela Porter
Groundwood Books

Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest
Written by Caitlyn Vernon
Orca Book Publishers

 

 

The Runaway
Written by Glen Huser
Tradewind Books

What is Real
Written by Karen Rivers
Orca Book Publishers

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

Awarded to the author and illustrator of picture books, picture story books, and illustrated non-fiction books

(from http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/about) 

The 2012 finalists are:

Dalen & Gole: Scandal in Port Angus
Written and illustrated by Mike Deas
Orca Book Publishers

Grandpa’s Girls
Written by Nicola I. Campbell
Illustrated by Kim LaFave
Groundwood Books

 

Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been?
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by Rae Maté
Simply Read Books 

Shake Awakes
Written by Robert Heidbreder
Illustrated by Marc Mongeau
Tradewind Books

When I Was Small
Written by Sara O'Leary
Illustrated by Julie Morstad
Simply Read Books

 

 

We look forward to the announcement of the winning titles, authors and illustrators on May 12, 2012.