Tyler LeBlanc leads Atlantic Book Award nominations, with 4 for memoir Acadian Driftwood
CBC Books | | Posted: April 19, 2021 8:26 PM | Last Updated: April 19, 2021
Acadian Driftwood by Tyler LeBlanc leads the shortlisted titles for the 2020 Atlantic Book Awards, a coalition of 13 different book prizes.
The awards, managed by the Atlantic Book Awards Society, recognize books from Atlantic Canada including poetry, illustrated children's books, adult fiction and nonfiction.
Acadian Driftwood has the most nominations of any title, with four. It's a finalist for the Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing, the Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and the Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award.
LeBlanc grew up on the South Shore of Nova Scotia and only vaguely knew his family had Acadian heritage. But once he decided to investigate, he learned his family's history traced back to the Acadian Expulsion in the mid-1700s, when hundreds of Acadians were sent from the Maritimes to the United States, Britain and France. Some stayed and tried to forge new lives wherever they ended up, while some returned to the Maritimes to face the difficult task of rebuilding their lives. In Acadian Driftwood, LeBlanc traces this family history and the legacy the expulsion had on the Maritimes today.
LeBlanc is a writer from the South Shore of Nova Scotia. His work has appeared in This Magazine, Modern Farmer and the Coast. Acadian Driftwood is his first book.
Dirty Birds by Morgan Murray is the second most recognized title with three nominations. It's nominated for Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and Best Published Book Award.
Dirty Birds is a humorous coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the 2008 global recession. A young man named Milton Ontario (yes, it's also a place) leaves his small hometown in Saskatchewan to pursue fame and fortune in Montreal and to find his idol, the iconic singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.
Dirty Birds was on the Canada Reads 2021 longlist and is currently on the longlist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
Murray is a writer from Alberta who now lives in Nova Scotia. Dirty Birds is his first novel.
Black Matters by Afua Cooper and Blood in the Water by Silver Donald Cameron scored two nominations each.
Cooper and photographer Wilfried Raussert collaborated on Black Matters, which explores the everyday experience of what it's like to be Black in Canada. Each of Raussert's photographs has a companion poem written by Cooper.
Cooper is the poet laureate of Halifax. She's also a historian and teacher. She is the author of five books of poetry and two novels, including The Hanging of Angelique.
Raussert is a Canadian photographer, artist and academic who currently teaches in Germany. He has authored or edited more than 20 scholarly books.
Blood in the Water is a nonfiction book that recounts the 2013 murder of Philip Boudreau, a notorious outlaw who was killed while vandalizing the lobster traps of three Cape Breton fishermen.
Cameron was a celebrated Nova Scotia author, filmmaker and environmentalist. He had been a columnist for the Globe and Mail and wrote a weekly column for the Halifax Sunday Herald for 13 years. He died on June 1, 2020.
The winners will be announced on May 13, 2021.
You can see the complete shortlists for all the awards below.
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award is a $25,000 prize that recognizes the best work of fiction from Atlantic Canada.
The finalists are:
- Some People's Children by Bridget Canning
- Dirty Birds by Morgan Murray
- Speechless by Anne Simpson
The Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction is a $1,000 prize that recognizes the best short story collection by someone from or living in Atlantic Canada.
The finalists are:
- Boy with a Problem by Chris Benjamin
- Winter Road by Wayne Curtis
- The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm by Julie Curwin
The Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature is a $2,000 prize that recognizes excellence in young people's literature. The prize alternates between YA and children's literature. The 2021 prize is recognizing YA.
The finalists are:
- Annaka by Andre Fenton
- Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan
- The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari
The Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing is a $1,000 prize that recognizes an academic work.
The finalists are:
- At the Ocean's Edge by Margaret Conrad
- The Miramichi Fire by Alan MacEachern
- A Long Journey by Andrea Procter
The Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association Best Atlantic-Published Book Award recognizes the best published Atlantic Canadian book. The publisher receives $3,000 while the author receives $1,000.
The finalists are:
- The Forager's Dinner by Shawn Dawson
- Dirty Birds by Morgan Murray
- Black Matters by Afua Cooper, with photographs by Wilfried Raussert
The Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing is a $2,000 prize that recognizes a book about Atlantic Canadian history.
The finalists are:
- Silver Hair and Golden Voice by Ernest J. Dick
- Acadian Driftwood by Tyler LeBlanc
- Cod Collapse by Jennifer Thornhill-Verma
The Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award is a $2,000 prize that recognizes a work of nonfiction from Nova Scotia.
The finalists are:
- Blood in the Water by Silver Donald Cameron
- Acadian Driftwood by Tyler LeBlanc
- Before the Parade by Rebecca Rose
The Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award is a $2,500 prize that recognizes the best work of fiction from a Nova Scotian writer.
The finalists are:
- Good Mothers Don't by Laura Best
- The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
- The Silence of the Vessel by Brenda MacLennan-Dunphy
The J. M. Abraham Poetry Award is a $2,000 prize for the best poetry collection from Atlantic Canada.
The finalists are:
- Black Matters by Afua Cooper, with photographs by Wilfried Raussert
- Humanimus by David Huebert
- Waking Ground by shalan joudry
The Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration is a $500 prize that recognizes the illustrator of a book from Atlantic Canada.
The finalists are:
- The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler
- I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith
- When Emily Was Small by Lauren Soloy
The Margaret and John Savage First Book Awards are awards worth $2,500 that recognize the best debut books in Atlantic Canada. There is a prize for fiction and a prize for nonfiction.
The fiction finalists are:
- The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm by Julie Curwin
- Dirty Birds by Morgan Murray
- Aftershock by Alison Taylor
The nonfiction finalists are:
- Acadian Driftwood by Tyler LeBlanc
- The Dome Chronicles by Garry Leeson
- Capturing Crime by Carol Taylor
The Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award is a $1,000 prize that is awarded every other year to a poetry book from Nova Scotia.
The finalists are:
- Year of the Metal Rabbit by Tammy Armstrong
- Burden by Douglas Burnet Smith
- Waking Ground by shalan joudry
The Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award is a $2,500 prize for the best work of nonfiction from a Nova Scotian writer.
The finalists are: