Trudy Morgan-Cole wins NL Reads 2019
Top prize included $1000
Trudy Morgan-Cole is this year's winner of NL Reads 2019.
The title was bestowed upon her Thursday night in front of a packed house and a live panel of advocates at the A.C. Hunter Library in St. John's.
Most Anything You Please marks Morgan-Cole's 16th novel, covering three generations of women from the Holloway family who own a corner store in Rabbittown — a community to which she has a special connection.
Living in Rabbittown for most of her adult life, Morgan-Cole told CBC News in November that she loves how the neighbourhood has avoided the flip-for-profit routine, maintaining its lower cost of living and allowing it to be affordable for lower-income, working-class people, their families and new Canadians settling into St. John's.
"A changing family, and a changing city; Trudy Morgan-Cole takes you through the decades of the Holloway family, from Bonavista Bay, to Rabbittown, to Louisiana and back again, as the matriarchs — and their community — adjust to the changing modern face of St. John's," said CBC's Stephanie Tobin, who was selected to argue in favour of Morgan-Cole's title during the live event Thursday night.
All told, four new titles were entered into the NL Reads competition. Morgan-Cole's novel was released in November, and a new book by other authors was revealed each month through February.
Novels from Jamie Fitzpatrick (The End of Music), Sharon Bala (Boat People) and Lisa Moore (Something for Everyone) challenged for the top prize, along with Morgan-Cole, for the $1,000 Margaret Duley Award.