Joshua Whitehead, katherena vermette and David A. Robertson among finalists for 2023 Manitoba Book Awards
The awards celebrate Manitoba writing, publishing, book design and illustration
katherena vermette, David A. Robertson and Joshua Whitehead are among the finalists for the 2023 Manitoba Book Awards.
The 12 awards recognize excellence in Manitoba writing, storytelling, book design, illustration and publishing.
Road Allowance Era is the fourth and final volume in vermette's A Girl Called Echo graphic novel series, which is about a 13-year-old Métis girl named Echo Desjardins who is able to travel back and forth in time.
In the finale, Echo travels back in time to 1885 when the Manitoba Act's promise of land for the Métis has gone unfulfilled, and many Métis flee to the Northwest. Métis leader Louis Riel is executed, and new legislation corrodes Métis land rights, forcing many Métis to be on the fringes of urban centres. As she navigates this with her family, she must channel the hope and resilience of her people in order to build a brighter future.
vermette is a poet and novelist based in Winnipeg. Her books include the novels The Strangers and The Break, and the poetry collections North End Love Songs and river woman. North End Love Songs won the 201 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry; The Strangers won the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and The Break, was championed by comedian Candy Palmater on Canada Reads 2017. vermette's next book is the novel The Circle, which will be released on in September 2023.
Whitehead is an Oji-nêhiyaw, two-spirit writer, poet and Indigiqueer scholar from Peguis First Nation. He is a finalist for the Manitowapow Award. The prize is presented every two years to two Indigenous writers or oral performers who demonstrate excellence in writing, storytelling or spoken word and also actively support Indigenous verbal arts in Manitoba.
Whitehead is the author of the Canada Reads 2021-winning novel Jonny Appleseed and the poetry collection full-metal indigiqueer. He is also the authors of the nonfiction works Making Love with the Land and Indigiqueerness: A Conversation about Storytelling, which is a dialogue with writer Angie Abdou.
The Swampy Cree heritage author and graphic novelist David A. Robertson is nominated for three awards: Carol Shields Winnipeg book award for his novel The Theory of Crows, the Manitowapow Award and the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration awards for his graphic novel Version Control with artists Scott B. Henderson and Donovan Yaciuk, letterer Andrew Thomas and designer Jennifer Lum.
Robertson has published several books across a variety of genres, including picture books On the Trapline and When We Were Alone illustrated by Julie Flett, which both won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — illustrated books category. He is also the author of graphic novel Breakdown and memoir Black Water, which won two 2021 Manitoba Book Awards. He is based in Winnipeg.
You can see the complete shortlists below.
The finalists for the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction are:
- The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten: Even More Tales from the Accidental Veterinarian by Philipp Schott
- How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going by Vaclav Smil
- Malleable Forms by Meeka Walsh
- My Privilege, My Responsibility by Sheila North
- Overcome: Stories of Women Who Grew Up in the Child Welfare System by Anne Mahon
The finalists for the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award are:
- For a Better World: The Winnipeg General Strike and the Workers' Revolt edited by James Naylor, Rhonda L. Hinther & Jim Mochoruk
- The Secret of the Jade Bangle by Linda Trinh, illustration by Clayton Nguyen
- The Sweetest Dance On Earth by Di Brandt
- The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson
The finalists for the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book are:
- My Privilege, My Responsibility by Sheila North
- The Secret of the Jade Bangle by Linda Trinh, illustration by Clayton Nguyen
- Shelterbelts by Jonathan Dyck
- Through Disassembled Houses of Perfect Stones by David Yerex Williamson
- The War Being Waged by Darla Contois
The finalists for the Manitowapow Award are:
- Sonya Ballantyne
- Darla Contois
- William Dumas
- Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine
- David A. Robertson
- Joshua Whitehead
The Book Design finalists for the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Awards are:
- The Loyal Daughter by Nancy Lam, cover & illustration by M.C. Joudrey, cover & interior design by Matthew Stevens & M. C. Joudrey
- Malleable Forms by Meeka Walsh, cover & interior design by Relish New Brand Experience
- Resurgence: Engaging With Indigenous Narratives and Cultural Expressions In and Beyond the Classroom edited by Christine M'Lot & Katya Adamov Ferguson, cover illustration by Reanna Merasty, cover & interior design by Jennifer Lum
- Teacher, Take Care: A Guide to Well-Being and Workplace Wellness for Educators, edited by Jennifer E. Lawson, cover design by Jennifer Lum, interior design by Relish New Brand Experience
- Warehouse Journal, Volume 31, edited & designed by Alieha Pascua, Dave Castillo, & Joanna Babadilla
- Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education by Jo Chrona, cover illustration by Jo Chrona & Jason Fields, cover & interior design by Jennifer Lum
The finalists for the Illustration Awards are:
- For As Long As Zebras Are Striped by Julia Schettler, illustration by Sarah Neville, cover & interior design by Peasantry Press
- Resilience: Honouring the Children of Residential Schools by Jackie Traverse, foreword by Gramma Shingoose, illustration by Jackie Traverse, cover & interior design by Melody Morrissette
- Status Update by Georges Toles, illustration by Cliff Eyland, cover & interior design by Matthew Stevens & M. C. Joudrey
The finalists for the Graphic Novel Awards are:
- Dead Work by the Dead Work Collective, edited by Adam Petrash, illustration by GMB Chomichuk, Justin Currie, Steven Kaul, Zach Schuster & Christopher Smith, cover design by GMB Chomichuk, interior design by Lyndon Radchenka
- Giju's Gift by Brandon Mitchell, illustration by Veronika Barinova, lettering by Britt Wilson, cover & interior design by Jennifer Lum
- Road Allowance Era by katherena vermette, illustration by Scott B. Henderson, colouring by Donovan Yaciuk, cover & interior design by Relish New Brand Experience
- Version Control by David A. Robertson, illustration by Scott B. Henderson, colouring by Donovan Yaciuk, lettering by Andrew Thomas, cover & interior design by Jennifer Lum
The finalists for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction are:
- The Full Catastrophe by Méira Cook
- The Gunsmith's Daughter by Margaret Sweatman
- The Russian Daughter by Sarah Klassen
- A Seven Year Ache by Fisher Lavell
- The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson
The finalists for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher are:
- Dancing With Our Ancestors by Sara Florence Davidson & Robert Davidson, cover & illustration by Janine Gibbons, cover & interior design by Jennifer Lum, published by HighWater Press
- Exactly What I Said: Translating Words and Worlds by Elizabeth Yeoman, cover design by David Drummond, interior design by Jess Koroscil, published by University of Manitoba Press
- Heroin: An Illustrated History by Susan Boyd, illustration, cover & interior design by David Lester, published by Fernwood Publishing
- Overcome: Stories of Women Who Grew Up in the Child Welfare System by Anne Mahon, cover & interior design by Relish New Brand Experience, published by Great Plains Publications
- Resurgence: Engaging With Indigenous Narratives and Cultural Expressions In and Beyond the Classroom edited by Christine M'Lot & Katya Adamov Ferguson, cover illustration by Reanna Merasty, cover & interior design by Jennifer Lum, published by Portage & Main Press
- Shop Class Hall Pass: Facing the Buried Trauma of Sexual Assault by Karin Martel, cover design by Terry Gallagher, interior design by Karen Haughian, published by Signature Editions
- This Side of Light: Selected Poems (1995-2020) by Carolyn Marie Souaid, cover design by Terry Gallagher, interior design by Karen Haughian, published by Signature Editions
The finalists for the McNally Robinson Book for Young People are:
- The Gift of the Little People by William Dumas, illustration by Rhian Brynjolson
- Lessons in Fusion by Primrose Madayag Knazan
- The Stone Child: The Misewa Saga, Book Three by David A. Robertson
- Treaty Words: For as Long as the Rivers Flow by Aimée Craft, illustration by Luke Swinson
- The Undercover Book List by Colleen Nelson
The finalists for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award are:
- Flyway by Sarah Ens
- The Full Catastrophe by Méira Cook
- How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going by Vaclav Smil
- Malleable Forms by Meeka Walsh
- Shelterbelts by Jonathan Dyck
The finalists for the Le Prix littéraire Rue-Deschambault are:
- Allumettes : poèmes engageants 2014-2018 by Charles Leblanc
- Mont Blanc-Winnipeg Express by Seream
- Petites déviations by Lise Gaboury Diallo
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