If the Winterset award isn’t the most flattering award a Newfoundlander can win, it’s at least a career-affirming pat on the back, not only because the mandate states “the over-riding consideration will be excellence in writing,” but because all genres are considered. In other words, whoever wins the Winterset award wrote THE best book to come out of Newfoundland & Labrador that year. (as far as the judges are concerned anyway.)
This Year’s Shortlist: Michael Crummey’s Galore, Jessica Grant’s Come, Thou Tortoise, and Lisa Moore’s February
Synopsis and Selected Praise for Michael Crummey’s Galore
From the publisher’s website: An intricate family saga and love story spanning two centuries, Galore is a portrait of the improbable medieval world that was rural Newfoundland, a place almost too harrowing and extravagant to be real. Propelled by the disputes and alliances, grievances and trade-offs that bind the Sellers and Devine families through generations, Galore is alive with singular characters, and an uncommon insight into the complexities of human nature.
- Shortlisted for the 2009 GG Award.
- Currently on the Atlantic Independent Booksellers’ Choice Award shortlist.
- Currently on the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award shortlist.
- Currently on the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize shortlist (Canada and Caribbean Region)
- Easily the most critically well-received novel out of Atlantic Canada this year, or, in years?
Synopsis and Selected Praise for Jessica Grant’s Come, Thou Tortoise
From the publisher’s website: A delightfully offbeat story that features an opinionated tortoise and an IQ-challenged narrator who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery. Audrey (a.k.a. Oddly) Flowers is living quietly in Oregon with Winnifred, her tortoise, when she finds out her dear father has been knocked into a coma back in Newfoundland. Despite her fear of flying, she goes to him, but not before she reluctantly dumps Winnifred with her unreliable friends. Poor Winnifred.
- A Globe & Mail Book of the Year
- Currently in The National Post’s Canada Also Reads Competition.
- “One of those rare books that manage to entwine humour – in this case, even outright silliness – with poignant insight and a captivating plot.” – Quill & Quire.
And, most importantly: Salty Ink’s Featured Book of the Month for March, click here for that article.
Synopsis and Selected Praise for Lisa Moore’s February
From the publisher’s website: In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine’s Day storm. All eighty-four men aboard died. February is the story of Helen O’Mara, one of those left behind when her husband, Cal, drowns. It begins in the present-day, but spirals back again and again to the “February” that persists in Helen’s mind and heart.
- Currently shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Canada and Caribbean Region)
- Named as one of Quill & Quire’s “Fifteen Books That Mattered” in 2009.
- A Globe and Mail Top Book of 2009.
- And most importantly, was Salty Ink’s featured book in February, click here to read that article
* The winner will be announced at Government House Thursday, March 25.
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