Kobzar Literary Award Announced
March 5th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Randall Maggs (image: mun.ca)
Good news for Randall Maggs. His Night Work: The Sawchuk poems, about Terry Sawchuk the great NHL goalie, has just won the $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award. The website of the Shevchenko Foundation describes the vision of the award:
The vision of the Shevchenko Foundation for the Kobzar Literary Award is to foster cultural development in Canada through the Literary Arts and create opportunities for all Canadian writers to explore Ukrainian Canadian themes that are relevant to Canadians.
Presented biennially, the $25,000 prize ($20,000 to the author; $5,000 to the publisher) recognizes a Canadian writer who best presents a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit through poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction, or young people’s literature.
This is an incredible accomplishment for Maggs and one that helps show Night Work is about more than hockey. I’ve been reading it myself lately and, though I’m not the hockey fan I used to be, I’ve enjoyed it very much. It’s less about the sport, in my opinion, and more about the man, who Sawchuk was, how people viewed him, and how he viewed himself.
I’m lucky to be attending a small reading/presentation Maggs is giving next week here in Gander. I’ve seen him read a couple of times, but this should be an excellent evening.
Upcoming Events
March 4th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Never More There (Nightwood Editions, 2009)
March and April are gearing up to be a busy period for yours truly. I’ve got some writing projects that need to be done, both personal and professional, as well as some committee work. Some upcoming readings during this period:
The March Hare – “Eric’s Time”
Albatross Hotel, Gander
Thursday 11 March, 7:30 pm
Whiteway March Hare
Memorial Centre, Whiteway, Trinity Bay
Saturday 27 March, 2:00 pm
Reading at The Barroom
Corner Brook
Thrusday 1 April, 8:00 pm
In addition to this, I’ll be playing at the Gander Curling Club, Saturday 13 March, for Paddy’s Day celebations. If you like Irish/Newfoundland folk music then come on out and enjoy yourself (I certainly will be).
Shortlists Announced
March 2nd, 2010 § 1 Comment
Shortlists have been announced for some Atlantic Canadian book awards. You can see the complete lists here and here. It’s good to see Newfoundland authors get a nod in a couple of these. No surprise to see Crummey and Moore on the Winterset Award’s shortlist. Congrats to Mike Heffernan for having Rig shortlisted for the Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing. Also Trudy Morgan-Cole’s By The Rivers of Brooklyn is shortlisted for the APMA Best Atlantic Published Book Award.
Here’s the list for the Atlantic Poetry Prize:
- Anne Compton, Asking Questions Indoors and Out (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
- Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Lean-To (Gaspereau Press)
- Zachariah Wells, Track & Trace (Biblioasis)
Anne Compton has seen this list before. I’m not familiar with Klaassen’s work, however. Congrats to Wells also. I’ll be picking up a couple of these titles for sure.
