The five finalists for the 2013 Amazon.ca First Novel Award have been announced! The prize is awarded to the best Canadian novel of the previous year published by an author who has never written a novel before (he or she may however have written non-fiction, poetry, short story collections or other genres).
This year's list contains the 2013 Knopf New Face of Fiction author, Kenneth Bonert (the NFOF programme has historical fared well, with frequent appearances on the Amazon.ca First Novel Award list), as well as veteran writer Wayne Grady, who has authored fourteen works of non-fiction before publishing his novel, Emancipation Day.
The shortlist was selected by head judge and editor of Quill & Quire, Stuart Woods.
Nominees for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award 2013:
The Lion Seeker by Kenneth Bonert (Knopf Canada)
The Eliot Girls by Krista Bridge (Douglas & McIntyre)
Juanita Wildrose: My True Life by Susan Downe (Pedlar Press)
Emancipation Day by Wayne Grady (Doubleday Canada)
Ballistics by D.W. Wilson (Hamish Hamilton Canada)
“The finalists for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award are at diverse stages in their careers as writers, but they share a bold vision for the novel in Canada,” said Woods. “I hope this shortlist will serve as another reminder of the vibrancy of Canadian fiction.”
This year, the winner will be unveiled on April 30 at the annual Amazon.ca First Novel Award ceremony held in Toronto. The winner will be selected from the list of nominees by a panel of judges including Kamal Al-Solaylee, journalist and author of the memoir Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes; Angie Abdou, author of the novels The Bone Cage and The Canterbury Trail; and Brian Francis, author of the novels Fruit and Natural Order. The winner will receive CAD $7,500 and finalists will receive a CAD $750 gift certificate.
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