Ok, I may be exaggerating.

Because I’m the new designated “awards person” I get forwarded any notices about awards that arrive at our office, be it by post or email. I’m finding it a good way to learn more about the industry – after all, you get a sense of what kind is being published throughout the industry and what particular work is being honoured.

It’s also fun to see what kind of prizes are out there for writers, given that being an author is sometimes regarded as a “pro-bono profession.” I was intrigued this week when this announcement came into my inbox:

“The Griffin Poetry Prize Announces Prize Award Increase from $100,000 to $200,000 and the 2010 International and Canadian Shortlist”

Aside from the $200,000 in prize money, what caught my eye is the literary category: poetry. This is one area in which Dundurn hasn’t published extensively, and yet, it is one that is perhaps among my most beloved. I wouldn’t go so far to say that I’m a “poet”, but like many people I dabble with a bit of writing as a creative outlet and tend to form my work by poetic standards versus prose. On the encouragement of others, I’m trying to work up the nerve to submit a few of my pieces for publication.

I think poetry gets a bit of a bad rap. Maybe all the metaphors and other rhetorical devices make it too hoity-toity for some., but there seems to be a stigma that poetry is for the academia, not the everyman. Am I wrong?

Photo taken at Forest of Reading® Festival of Trees™ at Harbourfront Centre

Yesterday, I found myself outside amongst screaming fans numbering in the thousands … was I playing hooky from work and attending an outdoors concert? Nope, rather I was at the Festival of Trees, the culmination of the Forest of Reading Program, at the Habourfront Centre in Toronto, where Dundurn’s very own Mahtab Narsimhan won the Silver Birch Award Fiction for her novel The Third Eye! Congratulations Mahtab!

All I can say is WOW! It was a truly spectacular event!  More than 250,000 students province wide voted for their favourite book and it all culminates in a two day festival.  The Habourfront grounds were filled with tents set up for author signings, face painting, and carnival like games and were overrun with more than 6000 students who were all there to cheer on their favourite author in seven different categories. The first thought that came to my head, after thinking how on earth am I going to locate our authors was I so would have loved this when I was a kid/teen. I’ve often described my job to my friends as being part cheerleader. And it was nice being surrounded by a group of kids who love and support not only The Third Eye but also Reading the Bones by Gina McMurchy-Barber which was also nominated for a Silver Birch Award, and Perilous Passage by B.J. Bayle which was nominated for the Red Maple Award as much as I do. And I must confess that I found myself hollering and clapping as loud as the students were when The Third Eye won!

Mahtab with her award

Next up for Mahtab is The Silver Anklet, the second book in the Tara Trilogy. Watch this blog for an upcoming video interview with Mahtab.

And the winners are:

The Blue Spruce Award (kindergarten – grade two): Chester, written and illustrated by Melanie Watt (Kids Can Press)

Silver Birch Award Fiction (grade three – six): The Third Eye by Mahtab Narsimhan (Dundurn)

Silver Birch Award Non-Fiction (grade three -six): Gold Medal for Weird by Kevin Sylvester (Kids Can Press)

Silver Birch Award Express (grade three – six): Dear Sylvia by Alan Cumyn (Groundwood Books)

The Red Maple Fiction Award (grade seven – eight): Out of the Cold by Norah McClintock (Scholastic Canada)

The Red Maple Non-Fiction Award (grade seven – eight): Royal Murder: The Deadly Intrigue of the Ten Sovereigns by Elizabeth MacLeod (Annick Press)

The White Pine Award (high-school): Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (TOR)

Here’s what the Canada Council said:  “Liedewy Hawke’s translation of The Postman’s Round, by Denis Theriault, provides a seamless, empathic version of a tragicomic love story set in daily life as well as in a reality driven by imagination and dreams.  She has adroitly captured these nuances and dealt consistently well with the subtle, precise haiku that structure the novel’s imaginary landscape.”

Simply said, i encourage you to read The Postman’s Round.  It is a haunting love story and lyrical one that will stay with you forever.  I loved it!

Ali

Go here and check out the finalists.  Then vote!