The 2012 shortlist for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction was announced this morning in Toronto. We're thrilled that Afflictions & Departures, written by Madeline Sonik and published by LPG member, Anvil Press, was nominated.

Afflictions & Departures is a collection of essays that recall the authors life. However, unlike a traditional memoir, Sonik connects the daily events of her life with the larger social, historical, and scientific trends of the time.

Nominees will appear at an author brunch at Ben McNally's in Toronto on March 4th before the winner is announced on March 5th. A full list of nominees and more information on the Charles Taylor Prize can be found on their website.

The Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador recently announced the nominees for their annual Heritage and History Book Award. This year the award is recognizing works of poetry and non-fiction that best exemplifies excellence in interpreting the heritage and history of the province.

Congratulations to three LPG member publishers on their nominations:

Where Genesis Begins by Tom Dawe with artwork by Gerald Squires, published by Breakwater Books,

Never More There by Stephen Rowe, published by Nightwood Editions,

Battlefront Newfoundland: Britain's Oldest Colony at War, 1939 - 1945 by Jack Fitzgerald, published by Creative Book Publishing.

Celebrating the best in Canadian literary non-fiction, the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction is given to a title that excells in three areas: style; thought and perception; and superb language. For the first time in the history of the award a long list has been revealed.

And we're so excited they did, since we have two publishers with books on the list:

Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live by Ray Robertson, published by Biblioasis

Afflictions and Departures: Essays by Madeline Sonik, published by Anvil Press

The short list will be announced on January 10, 2012 and the winner will be named on March 5, 2012 in Toronto. For a complete list of the titles long listed for this year's award, visit the Charles Taylor Prize website.

The Globe & Mail recently published their annual list of Top 100 titles, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Showing their good taste, some LPG publishers had titles that made the cut:

Poetry

Phil Hall's Killdeer, published by BookThug, which recently won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry.

"Phil Hall’s Governor-General’s Award-winning Killdeer is a literary memoir in the form of a lyrical essay, which he rescues from its excesses and turns into something as adventurous as it is readable. Hall is one of the most inventive, and least pretentious, poets we have. If he’s not a household name yet, he deserves to be." – Paul Vermeersch

Canadian Fiction

The Meagre Tarmac by Clark Blaise, published by Biblioasis.

The Quebec Writers' Federation announced the winners of their annual literary awards on November 22nd at a gala event at the Lion d'Or in Montreal and there was a lot to celebrate for some of our members:

Ann Scowcroft won the Concordia University First Book Prize for The Truth of Houses, published by Brick Books,

Gabe Foreman won the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry for A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People, published by Coach House Books, and

Dimitri Nasrallah won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction for Niko, published by Vehicule Press.

For a complete list of winners, check out the QWF website.

The winners of the 2011 Governor General's Literary Awards were announced on November 15th at a news conference at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. We'd like to offer our congratulations to all the winners but especially to Phil Hall, author of Killdeer, published by BookThug, which won the poetry award; and to Erin Shields, author of If We Were Birds, published by Playwrights Canada Press, which won the drama award.

All the winners will be presented their awards on November 24th in Ottawa at Rideau Hall by Governor General David Johnston. For a full list of winners visit the Canada Council for the Arts website.

The winners of the 5th annual Moonbeam Children's Book Awards were recently announced, celebrating exemplary books and their creators that help to create a life-long love of reading in children.

We'd like to congratulate the following authors and publishers:

Coteau Books, publisher of Ghost Messages by Jacqueline Guest, winner of the Gold medal for Pre-Teen Fiction - Historical/Cultural; and Drummer Girl by Karen Bass, winner of the Bronze medal for Young Adult Fiction - General.

Ronsdale Press, publisher of Hannah & the Spindle Whorl by Carol Anne Shaw, winner of the Silver medal for Pre-Teen Fiction - Historical/Cultural; and Broken Trail by Jean Rae Baxter, winner of the Gold medal for Young Adult Fiction - Historical/Cultural.

Gail Scott was recently nominated for the Grand Prix du livre de Montreal for The Obituary, published by Coach House Books. This sweeping story was chosen as one of five finalists out of over 200 entries. The winner will be announced on November 14th. For more information go here.

The 2011 winners of the ReLit Awards were recently announced at the Ottawa Writers' Festival and we were so excited to see that our publishers swept away the competition to come away with all three awards!

Dani Couture won the poetry award for her collection Sweet, published by Pedlar Press; Tony Burgess won the short story award for Ravenna Gets, from Anvil Press; and Craig Francis Power won the novel award for Blood Relatives, also published by Pedlar Press.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Patrick Bowman and Ronsdale Press for Torn From Troy's nomination for a 2012 Forest of Reading Red Maple Award.

Torn From Troy is a re-telling of Homer's Odyssey, through the eyes of a young Trojan boy, Alexi. He is left orphaned in the aftermath of the Trojan War and taken prisoner by Odysseus himself. Alexi develops a grudging respect as he fights along side the Greeks against storms, a cyclops, and bewitching lotus-eaters. The first in a trilogy, it is a fast-paced adventure story all on its own, though the ending will have you waiting for the next chapter in Alexi's story.