The Atlantic Book Awards took place at the beginning of June, as did the Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island Book Awards. The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are in progress.
For me, the highlight of the Atlantic Book Awards is the Thomas Raddall Prize for Atlantic Fiction. Here are the five shortlisted books:
A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter
Winner of the 2024 Thomas Raddall Prize for Atlantic Fiction, A Grandmother Begins the Story is stunning.
This book tells the story of five generations of Métis women. Mamé has already passed on to the afterlife but is still hanging on to the daughter and granddaughters she left behind, all coping (or not) with their own demons. The narrative alternates among the women as well as–with a unique touch–a young female bison. There’s also a couple of short segments from the perspective of great-grandmother Genevieve’s dogs and her car, Bets, adding some comic relief.
“Allie lives like she beads, as if the tighter she packed those beads down the longer she’d keep away the bad things, the mess, anything that wasn’t good. As if the beads were going to get loose and she’d be left on her hands and knees groping behind the couch in the corner.”
“The bit of snow and grass and soil there was staggering under the weight of nearly fifty pounds of hope and for the first time since she’d been with Jay she thought maybe it was all going to be okay. She reached over to lick her slimy boy and she thought that the end of this story might be beautiful after all. Dee didn’t know that the story wasn’t over. She couldn’t tell where one story ended and another began, not when she was right there in the middle of it all.”
The writing and structure of the novel is excellent and highly deserving of the $30,000 Raddall Fiction Award.
“All I know to say is we’ve got to play our music no matter who leaves us and no matter who fails us, no matter the memories preying on us in the small hours of the night.”
Hollow Bamboo by William Ping
A finalist for the 2024 Thomas Raddall Prize, this is another incredible story.
I had never read a story about the history of Chinese immigrants in Newfoundland, and it was fascinating. To make a statement about how easy it is to lose the past and a sense of your heritage, William Ping frames his story at both ends with a fictional version of himself (also named William Ping) being abducted by a supernatural spirit who has come to teach him about his past. While it sounds a little hokey, the contemporary parts of the novel are meant to be humorous while exploring ideas about race, and it all ends up working very well.
“That guy, when I saw them dragging him out of his seat and knocking his head into that armrest, I was so upset and all I could think was, ‘He looks like my dad.’ But when I look in the mirror, I look like the guys pulling him… I look like the bad guys.”
The main part of the book is historical fiction based on the story of the author’s grandfather: his reluctant journey to Newfoundland, his time spent in the laundromats, the friends he made, and how his good nature and perseverance got him to a better place. It’s heartbreaking to think of the life he left behind that he had always planned to go back to, but if he hadn’t stayed in Newfoundland this book and its author would not exist.
“I don’t want to appease anybody anymore… I just want to be myself. I want to be called by my own name. I want to be allowed to walk down the street in peace, without being watched or mocked or humiliated. I don’t want to be integrated, I just want to exist.”
Well worth the 427 pages.
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The other three finalists for the 2024 Raddall prize are books I have written about previously: This is the House Luke Built by Violet Browne, Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr, and The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. The links will take you to my thoughts on them. Spoiler: I loved them all.
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Other nominees and winners of the Nova Scotia Book Awards, the New Brunswick Book Awards, and the Atlantic Book Awards that I’ve read and written about:
Charlene Carr, Hold My Girl, HarperCollins
Leo McKay Jr., What Comes Echoing Back, Nimbus Publishing
Amanda Peters, The Berry Pickers, HarperCollins
Shelley Thompson, Roar, Nimbus Publishing
Michelle Wambolt, Birth Road, Nimbus Publishing
Recipe for a Good Life, by Lesley Crewe, Nimbus Publishing
Lisa Alward, Cocktail, Biblioasis
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Atlantic Legacy Award
This award honours individuals who have made a lasting contribution to the development of the literary arts in Atlantic Canada, people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty and who have, through innovation, risk-taking, self-sacrifice, and/or creativity, provided opportunity or inspiration (or both) for those sharing Atlantic Canadian stories through writing and publishing.
Gloria Ann Wesley was awarded the Atlantic Legacy Award this year for her work focusing on African Nova Scotian stories. In 1975 she became the first African Nova Scotian poet to be published. Since then, she has published other books, such as Chasing Freedom, If This is Freedom, Abigail’s Wish, Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Africville, and most recently Shovels Not Rifles.
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Further reading and exploring:
Consumed by Ink 
I wasn’t aware that these smaller book awards existed for each province, but of course why wouldn’t they??? How fantastic.
On a side note, I’m hoping you received an email notification of my new blog posts. I switched to a new web host and some of my regular followers are still missing. If you aren’t receiving the notifications, you can go to ivereadthis.com and sign up again and they should keep sending.
The Atlantic provinces are small but mighty! 🙂
I will look into that – Thank you for telling me!
I think I’m staying alive past my time. First Science Fiction turned to spirit and fantasy worlds, now Literary Fiction has. The 60s and 70s were secular, socialist and scientific. I want to go back!
I like that writers don’t feel as though they need to stay in their own lane – it spices things up!
A Grandmother Begins the Story seems like something I’d be into.
It’s so well done!
I loved Michalle Porter’s novel and it took me back to her earlier work (she also has a story in the 2024 Best Stories anthology from Biblioasis) but I can see how this would be a hard choice for jurors. Weird, too, how 3/5 authors are shelved in the Ps. Random!
I didn’t even notice that!
I have the 2024 Best Stories back again – hopefully I finish reading it this time.
Her book is incredible!