More than 300 people were on hand at the Conexus Arts Centre Saturday, April 26 to listen to numerous special guests, fete the 2014 finalists and congratulate the winners.
Books by and about Aboriginal people swept the 2014 Saskatchewan Book Awards, with author Lisa Bird-Wilson taking home three awards, and a scholarly work by James Daschuk receiving four awards.
Several hundred people, including government and sponsor representatives, as well as appreciative readers, joined Saskatchewan's literary luminaries at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina on Saturday, April 26 for the 21st Awards Ceremony, featuring guest speaker Warren Cariou.
Bird-Wilson, from Saskatoon, was presented with the coveted University of Regina Book of the Year Award. Her book, Just Pretending, published by Coteau Books of Regina, also won the SaskPower Fiction Award and the Rasmussen, Rasmussen & Charowsky Aboriginal Peoples' Writing Award. In addition, Coteau Books also took home the First Nations University of Canada Aboriginal Peoples' Publishing Award for the book.
Regina's James Daschuk took home four awards for Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, published by the University of Regina Press. The book was awarded the University of Saskatchewan College of Arts & Science and Library Non-Fiction Award, the Drs. Morris & Jacqui Shumiatcher Regina Book Award, the National Bank Financial Wealth Management First Book Award and the University of Regina Arts and Luther College Award for Scholarly Writing. University of Regina Press also received the University of Regina Faculty of Education and Campion College Award for Publishing in Education for the book.
The top publishing prize, the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport Publishing Award, was presented to the University of Regina Press for Fists Upon A Star: A Memoir of Love, Theatre and Escape from McCarthyism by Florence Bean James with Jean Freeman.
Rounding out the Awards were:
Saskatchewan Arts Board Poetry Award SaskEnergy Children's Literature Award
Paul Wilson (Regina) Dianne Young (Martensville)
The Invisible Library Dear Flyary Illustrated by John Martz
Hagios Press Kids Can Press
City of Saskatoon and Library Saskatoon Book Award
Adam Pottle (Saskatoon)
Mantis Dreams: The Journal of Dr. Dexter Ripley
Caitlin Press
Established in 1993, the Saskatchewan Book Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence and diversity in Saskatchewan writing and publishing. It is a principal ambassador for the province's literary community, promoting greater awareness of Saskatchewan books, authors, and publishers through its awards, public reading events, and other promotional initiatives.
For more information, please contact:
Carol Todd
Program Director
Saskatchewan Book Awards
306.569.1585 (Sunday, April 27 – 306.957.0007)