2008 Finalists: English-language
View French-language finalists
Fiction
Non-fiction
Poetry
Drama
Children’s text
Children’s illustration
Translation - French to English
Rivka Galchen, New York (New York), originally from Toronto, Atmospheric Disturbances. (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; distributed by HarperCollins Canada) (ISBN 978-1-55468-054-2)
Atmospheric Disturbances is a poignant and very funny journey inside a mistaken mind. A writer with tremendous sympathy and psychological acuity, Rivka Galchen is possessed of a wonderfully sly, magnificently skewed sense of humour. A brilliant debut.
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Rawi Hage, Montreal, Cockroach. (House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88784-209-2)
Rawi Hage’s Cockroach is a savagely intelligent examination of contemporary multicultural Canada. Humorous and heartbreaking, this novel shines a fierce, brilliant light on the immigrant experience in this country. A mad tour-de-force in a fresh and original voice.
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Nino Ricci, Toronto, The Origin of Species. (Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66360-1)
The young searching protagonist of Nino Ricci's The Origin of Species takes us into the now distant world of the post-Trudeau 1980s. Set mostly in Montreal, with an illuminating voyage to the Galápagos at its centre, this exquisite novel is both tough and tender and, in the end, confirms our belief in the resilience of the human heart.
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David Adams Richards,Toronto, The Lost Highway. (Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66496-7)
The Lost Highway is an intimate and compelling psychological portrait of a lost soul. David Adams Richards writes with an overarching humanity that points to our foibles with sympathy and humour. His open, honest and supple prose creates a world we at once recognize and see anew.
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Fred Stenson, Cochrane (Alberta), The Great Karoo.(Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66405-9)
No one writes about cowboys, horses, landscape and the military quite like Fred Stenson. Here is the humour, humanity and insight that can only come from an author who knows what he's talking about. A true-hearted book about Canadians caught up in the dark cause of the Boer War.
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Christie Blatchford, Toronto, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army. (Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66466-0)
The stories of the men and women who fight in wars are seldom told. This illuminating book ensures the soldiers serving and dying in Afghanistan are not reduced to mere numbers in the war of words that attends the most debated deployment in modern Canadian history.
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Douglas Hunter, Port McNicoll (Ontario), God's Mercies. Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery. (Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66058-7)
This original book takes the stuff of the exploration narrative, a tale many times told, and makes it new and compelling. By bringing 17th-century rivals Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain together onto the same canvas, Hunter creates a memorable, suspense-filled and elegantly-written drama.
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Sid Marty, Lundbreck (Alberta), The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek. (McClelland & Stewart; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-7710-5699-4)
Sid Marty's The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek is a profoundly moving story about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. This meticulous reconstruction of real-world events nonetheless moves at the pace of a great crime novel. While the story of a single bear forms the heart of the narrative, the book also embraces complex ecological, economic and social dynamics.
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James Orbinski, Toronto, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century. (Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66069-3)
This book offers a poignant first-hand perspective on modern humanitarian action. Based on Orbinski's work with Médecins Sans Frontières, the book addresses the troubling questions that haunt those who dwell on the uneasy frontline where human misery intersects with global politics.
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Chris Turner, Calgary, The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need. (Random House Canada; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 978-0-679-31465-3)
Chris Turner brings his perspective as a young parent to this vision of how the future might unfold if we pay attention to ingenuity, invention and audacity in design and urban planning. Turner's exuberance and superb journalistic instincts make this book on climate change unique.
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Weyman Chan, Calgary, Noise from the Laundry. (Talonbooks; distributed by Raincoast / Publishers Group Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88922-578-7)
Chan's poetry takes us through a breathtaking range of encounters, filled with sly wit, sparkling linguistic turns, and an astonishing youthful clarity about the complexities of the contemporary human project.
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A. F. Moritz, Toronto, The Sentinel. (House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88784-790-5)
The circumstances of being fully human are the hallmark of Moritz's work - carried out with erudition and compassion for the human journey. Sources of many literatures combine in a unique voice that is both pan-American and global.
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Sachiko Murakami, Vancouver, The Invisibility Exhibit. (Talonbooks; distributed by Raincoast / Publishers Group Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88922-579-4)
Murakami's poems take us into the heart of Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Her words — eloquent, stark and bold — tackle the silences surrounding Vancouver's “missing women.” This collection is a must read. Each poem harbours its own life.
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Ruth Roach Pierson, Toronto, Aide-Mémoire.. (BuschekBooks; distributed by ListDistCo) (ISBN: 978-1-894543-43-9)
Aide-Mémoire is sophisticated, witty, tender, grieving, ironic, cunning, open-eyed, open-hearted. The poems take us through a lifetime of memories, reflections, and imaginative engagements, traversing several continents and ages, without ever losing their fierce, intimate, ecstatic connection to our common humanity and the living green world, close-up, and all at once, nested among wheeling stars.
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Jacob Scheier, Toronto, More to Keep Us Warm. (ECW Press; distributed by Jaguar) (ISBN 978-1-55022-794-9)
Scheier's young voice urgently questions every cultural convention, every truth. The poems are infused with humour, irony, intelligence, wit, grief, and above all, love.
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Catherine Banks, Halifax, Bone Cage. (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 978-0-88754-787-4)
A big play about tough lives in rural Nova Scotia. Bone Cage puts these lives under the microscope and scrutinizes them with piercing intelligence. The play resonates far beyond its rural setting to probe the struggles and hopes of people everywhere, particularly those trapped in dead-end jobs. At times it's a struggle to dream. This play spans history and is a play for today — tragic, funny, nuanced and poetic.
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Ronnie Burkett, Toronto, 10 Days on Earth. (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by Playwrights Canada Press) (ISBN 978-0-88754-737-9)
Ronnie Burkett's 10 Days on Earth unsentimentally explores the ache of loneliness. A middle-aged, intellectually-challenged man continues to live with his dead mother, not realizing she has passed in her sleep. Amazingly, this play doesn't dip into sadness. Rather, it celebrates our ability to survive tragedy, touching readers with beautiful imagery and powerful poetry.
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Paul Ciufo, Grand Bend (Ontario), Reverend Jonah. (J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing / Scirocco Drama; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-897289-32-7)
When public opinion in rural Ontario drives a lesbian from the comfort and support of the church she loves, a young minister in his first pastoral charge must search his soul for honour, justice and truth. Paul Ciufo debates questions of faith and spirit in a secular, commerce-driven world. His power of observation is revealed in nuanced characters whose opposing, deeply-held values drive the play.
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Marie Clements, Galiano Island (British Columbia), Copper Thunderbird. (Talonbooks; distributed by Raincoast / Publishers Group Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88922-568-8)
Marie Clements is a vibrant and important voice in Canadian theatre because of her imagination and command of language. Her theatre technique and imagery are surprising, brilliant and sometimes upsetting. The playwright portrays the art and life of Norval Morisseau, the “Father of Contemporary Native Art.” In Copper Thunderbird, images, lines and colours intermingle as if seen through the energy lines of his paintings. Often angry, never sentimental, this play deserves a wide audience.
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Judith Thompson, Toronto, Palace of the End. (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 978-0-88754-763-8)
Moving beyond the political, Palace of the End presents the lives of three people connected to present-day Iraq. This play uses specific, sensory details to create characters that are as complex as the country that haunts them. Judith Thompson is wise about universal truths and writes convincingly about a contemporary quagmire. The play's wallop comes from its power to speak about pain.
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Alma Fullerton, Midland (Ontario), Libertad. (Fitzhenry & Whiteside; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 978-1-55455-106-4)
From the dumps in Guatemala, from the tragic death of a mother rise two boys: Libertad and his little brother, Julio. With only an address on a piece of paper, the boys embark on an incredible journey to find their father in America. Alma Fullerton weaves a story of warmth and caring, dogged determination and the generosity of strangers.
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John Ibbitson, Washington (D.C.), formerly of Ottawa and Toronto, The Landing.
(Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55453-234-6 (bound) / 978-1-55453-238-4 (pbk))
Ben Mercer first experiences live classical music as a young boy sitting on his father's shoulders. From then on, he is hooked, bringing us along on his struggle to play violin. At times the instrument does not co-operate. There are too many notes on the music sheet. The Landing is a superbly-crafted story by a writer who understands the many stages of an artistic dream.
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Dianne Linden, Edmonton, Shimmerdogs. (Thistledown Press; distributed by Fitzhenry & Whiteside) (ISBN 978-1-897235-37-9)
Mike Hopkins is a boy with his own way of dealing with the world around him — one not always understood or appreciated, even by those who love him dearly. Author Dianne Linden inhabits Mike's world in a story that is life-affirming without ever being sentimental, that is in equal measures tragic, funny and poignant.
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Shenaaz Nanji, Calgary, Child of Dandelions. (Second Story Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-897187-50-0)
This is a gripping drama about a fascinating fragment of time in history — the expulsion of Indians from Uganda in 1972. Fifteen-year-old Sabine poignantly straddles two worlds — those of the landed Indian gentry and of the native Ugandans amid wrenching turmoil. Quietly and crisply written, all of Nanji's characters are beautifully realized, morally nuanced and compellingly crafted.
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Mariko Tamaki, Toronto, Skim. (Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88899-753-1)
Skim is an audacious and original graphic novel set in a girls' private school. Skim, a slightly lumpy Kimberly Cameron, stumbles around the edges of cliques, depression, sexuality, suicide, crushes and an achingly ambiguous love. The story is heart-breakingly fresh and, in the end, a small celebration of life.
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Isabelle Arsenault, Montreal, My Letter to the World and Other Poems, text by Emily Dickinson. (Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55453-103-5 (bound) / 978-1-55453-339-8 (pbk))
Isabelle Arsenault's delicate illustrations and imaginative and confident use of tone, line and colour make it a joy to experience this retelling of Dickinson's poetry.
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Josée Bisaillon, Saint-Hubert (Quebec), The Emperor's Second Hand Clothes, text by Anne Millyard.
(Smith, Bonappétit & Son; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-897118-07-8)
Josée Bisaillon mixes techniques playfully to create very imaginative illustrations. Readers will find new joy in a story they may already know.
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Matt James, Toronto, Yellow Moon, Apple Moon, text by Pamela Porter. (Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88899-809-5)
Matt James's swirling, joyful and childlike illustrations add playful and limitless imagination to this delightful bedtime rhyme for young children. Strong yet gentle, they blend perfectly with the text.
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Stéphane Jorisch, Montreal, The Owl and the Pussycat, text by Edward Lear. (Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55337-828-0 (bound) / 978-1-55453-232-2 (pbk))
Stéphane Jorisch's fantastic and thought-provoking images interpret this classic poem in a new way. From the first to the last page, with or without text, his illustrations flow superbly, to the readers' delight.
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Kim LaFave, Roberts Creek (British Columbia), Shin-chi's Canoe, text by Nicola I. Campbell. (Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88899-857-6)
The use of deceptively simple scenes to evoke powerful emotions is one of the many techniques Kim LaFave uses to tell this poignant story. His strong illustrations, using line and subdued colours to best effect, help the reader to relate deeply with what takes place in the story.
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Jo-Anne Elder, Fredericton (New Brunswick), Beatitudes. (Goose Lane Editions; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-0-86492-486-5)
English translation of Béatitudes by Herménégilde Chiasson (Prise de Parole) In translating Herménégilde Chiasson's Béatitudes, Jo-Anne Elder has met the challenges of both the emotionally-charged content of the original, and its specific literary form, the litany. She has movingly rendered the complexity expressed in this contemporary “sermon on the mount,” while providing an English text rich with sensuality, rhythm and a sense of communion.
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Liedewy Hawke, Toronto, The Postman's Round. (Dundurn Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55002-785-3)
English translation of Le facteur émotif by Denis Thériault (XYZ éditeur)
Liedewy Hawke's translation of The Postman's Round, by Denis Thériault, provides a seamless, empathic version of a tragicomic love story set in daily life as well as in a reality driven by imagination and dreams. She has adroitly captured these nuances and dealt consistently well with the subtle, precise haiku that structure the novel's imaginary landscape.
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Lazer Lederhendler, Montreal, Nikolski. (Knopf Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-676-97879-7)
English translation of Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner (Éditions Alto) As the English translator of Nicolas Dickner's novel Nikolski, Lazer Lederhendler captures the style and voice of the original's direct speech and descriptions. Lederhendler's skills and intuition are first-class, and his ear is well-tuned to the rhythm of Dickner's prose.
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Paul Leduc Browne, Ottawa, and Michelle Weinroth, Ottawa, The Making of the Nations and Cultures of the New World. (McGill-Queen's University Press; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 978-0-7735-3213-7 (bound) / 978-0-7735-3294-6 (pbk)) English translation of Genèse des nations et cultures du Nouveau Monde by Gérard Bouchard (Les Éditions du Boréal)
Through their vibrant, limpid translation, Leduc Browne and Weinroth have made a monumental work about the origins of our society and culture accessible to all Canadians. The translators have accomplished the rare feat of keeping this dense and comprehensive work as alive in English as it is in French.
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Fred A. Reed, Montreal, Orfeo. (Véhicule Press; distributed by LitDistCo) (ISBN 978-1-55065-231-4)
English translation of Orfeo by Hans-Jürgen Greif (L'instant même) Fred A. Reed's English version of Hans-Jürgen Greif's Orfeo is a well-orchestrated masterpiece. His elegant translation captures the unusual voice of this harmonious work. Reed beautifully brings to life the Italian piano teacher (La Signora), the narrator (Weber) and the intriguing castrato, Orfeo.
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