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Saskatchewan Book Awards
Shortlist 2006 Press Release

(2006 Shortlist)

NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                    

October 19, 2006

New Authors Shine on Saskatchewan Book Awards Shortlist

“The many new authors on the shortlist are proof positive that Saskatchewan’s writing and publishing community is thriving!”  announced SBA Executive Director, Glenda James.  The Saskatchewan Book Awards shortlist, which was announced at simultaneous news conferences in Saskatoon & Regina on October 19, pared down the original 218 entries to 67 nominations in 13 categories.  Represented on the shortlist are 53 authors and 29 publishers.  Because a number of books received multiple nominations, there are 44 titles on the list.

While veterans of Saskatchewan’s literary community, such as Don Kerr, last year’s winner of the Saskatoon Book Award and author of this year’s My Own Places: Poems on John Constable and Gail Bowen, author of The Endless Knot whose popular mysteries often shortlist, comprise the bulk of the nominees, there is also an exceptionally strong showing by new Saskatchewan writers.  Fully one third of this year’s shortlist are books by first time authors.  Dry Streak, by new author Leeann Minogue, is a full-length play that introduces a sassy city slicker to a rural Saskatchewan setting.  Doris Bircham, first book author of Where Blue Grama Grows makes her debut in her senior years.  This year’s combination of established writers and fresh, new talent is sure to make this year’s Awards Gala an exciting event.

Regina publisher Coteau Books makes a very impressive showing on this year’s shortlist, earning sixteen nominations in total.  Coteau Books also claims the most nominated publication of the year with four nominations, On the Side of the People: A History of Labour in Saskatchewan, which is also a first book for authors Jim Warren and Kathleen Carlisle.  Saskatoon’s Thistledown Press was the second most nominated publisher with 11 nominations, such as Compensation by first time author Devin Krukoff.

The apex of the Book Awards’ excitement will be reached on November 25, at Regina’s Conexus Arts Centre, when the winners of all 13 awards will be announced at the annual Gala event.  This year’s guest speaker will be Jane Urquhart, winner of the Governor General’s Award for fiction for her novel The Underpainter and the recipient of numerous international awards.

Shortlisted authors will read at the at the Saskatoon Brunch & Author Readings on November 5, 11:30 a.m., Delta Bessborough (Tickets $20) and at the Regina Brunch & Author Readings on November 12, 11:30 a.m., Hotel Saskatchewan Radisson Plaza (Tickets $25).

Tickets for all SK Book Awards events can be purchased on-line at tickets@bookawards.sk.ca or call 791-7744.

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For more information, contact Glenda James, Executive Director at 569-1585