The
Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, valued at $20,000, was presented to
New Brunswick’s David Adams Richards for Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul
(Doubleday) at a ceremony hosted by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
(WFNS) on Friday, October 12, 2012 at the Dalhousie University Club in Halifax.
In
addition to the Raddall Fiction prize, The Evelyn Richardson Memorial
Non-Fiction Award was presented to Harry Thurston of Amherst, NS for The
Atlantic Coast: A Natural History (Greystone Books with the David Suzuki
Foundation), and the Atlantic Poetry Prize was awarded to Sue Goyette of
Halifax, NS for outskirts (Brick Books).
WFNS
Executive Director Nate Crawford presided over the ceremony and prizes were
presented by Linda Little, Silver Donald Cameron, and Brian Bartlett, past
winners of the Raddall, Richardson, and Poetry prizes respectively. Shortlisted
titles were presented by friends and members of the region’s writing community,
including Alexander MacLeod, Stephanie Domet, and Carol Bruneau.
Shortlists
for the WFNS Literary Awards are released annually in June, with nominated
writers appearing throughout the region until the October announcement. Now in
its 22nd year, The Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award has been administered
by WFNS since its inception in 1990. The Evelyn Richardson Memorial Award for
Non-Fiction was established in 1978, and the Atlantic Poetry Prize was first
awarded in 1998.
Shortlisted
nominees for each prize also included:
Thomas
Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award: Valerie Compton (Tide Road, Goose Lane
Editions); Heather Jessup (The Lightning Field, Gaspereau Press).
Evelyn
Richardson Memorial Award for Non-Fiction: Chris Benjamin (Eco-Innovators:
Sustainability in Atlantic Canada, Nimbus Publishing); Ray MacLeod (Hope for
Wildlife: True Stories of Animal Rescue, Nimbus Publishing).
Atlantic Poetry Prize: Warren Heiti (Hydrologos,
Pedlar Press); Anne Simpson (Is; McClelland & Stewart).
Full
details on the 2012 shortlists and past recipients of the awards can be found
at www.writers.ns.ca
