In a play off CBC’s popular Canada Reads competition (and admittedly inspired by The Afterword’s Canada Also Reads competition), Salty Ink has launched Atlantic Canada Reads in the spirit of promoting Atlantic Canadian literature. In May of 2010, readers elected themselves to defend a favourite novel by an Atlantic Canadian. Of the books nominated, a three-person panel selected six books, with the intention of showcasing a diversity of Atlantic Canadian writing.
The Books: click the titles below to learn more about each book, author, and nominator
Book One: Lisa Moore’s February, defended by Trish Osuch
Book Two: Kenneth J. Harvey’s Blackstrap Hawco, defended by Perry Moore
Book Three: Lesley Choyce’s The Republic of Nothing, defended by Stephen Patrick Clare
Book Four: George Elliot Clarke’s George & Rue, defended by Matt Stranach
Book Five: Darryl Whetter’s The Push & The Pull, defended by Nicole Dixon
Book Six: Kathleen Winter’s Annabel, defended by Laura Repas
The Defense Essays: click the links below to read the defense essays for each book
Trish Osuch’s Defense of Lisa Moore’s February
Perry Moore’s Defense of Kenneth J. Harvey’s Blackstrap Hawco
Stephen Patrick Clare’s Defense of Lesley Choyce’s The Republic of Nothing
Matt Stranach’s Defense of George Elliott Clarke’s George & Rue
Nicole Dixon’s Defense of Darryl Whetter’s The Push & The Pull
Laura Repas’ Defense of Kathleen Winter’s Annabel
Vote! Help Pick the Winner of the 2010 Atlantic Canada Reads Competition
The poll will be open from June 18-30th.
Haven’t read all of these books? GOOD! That’s the point. That’s why you get two votes.
Vote for the book that entices you the most, whether you’ve read it or not, and vote for the book, by an Atlantic Canadian author, that you think the country should read this summer.
NEW! CLICK HERE TO WIN A COPIES OF THESE BOOKS!
You Can Vote for Two Books
- Kenneth J. Harvey's BLACKSTRAP HAWCO (Random House, 2008) (35%, 399 Votes)
- Lisa Moore's FEBRUARY (Anansi, 2009) (23%, 257 Votes)
- Kathleen Winter's ANNABEL (Anansi, 2010) (22%, 251 Votes)
- Lesley Choyce's THE REPUBLIC OF NOTHING (Goose Lane, 2007 Re-issue) (21%, 235 Votes)
- Darryl Whetter's THE PUSH & THE PULL (Goose Lane, 2008) (20%, 220 Votes)
- George Elliot Clarke's GEORGE & RUE (HarperCollins, 2004) (12%, 135 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,124
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“Mesmerizing scenes worthy of a national epic. Its meticulous construction and control contain a breadth of incident and characterization seen only in the most ambitious and imposing novels.” – The Globe & Mail
With more than ten books under his belt — books that showcase an astounding versatility in style and story, from creepy slipstream to innovative literary fiction — Kenneth J. Harvey has become an international icon, and “Canada’s heavyweight champion of brash and beautiful literature.” His signature style, and his graceful-but-gritty delivery has been emulated but unmatched. His career took off from the get go, long before Newfoundland was the country’s literary goldmine and publishers were lining up for a pieces of that gold. His first book, Directions for an Open Body, was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize (Canada and Caribean Region). Impressive career highlights: His 2003 release, The Town That Forgot to Breathe, has been published in over a dozen countries. His 2006 mega-hit, Inside, remains the only Canadian-authored book to have won Italy’s prestigious Libro Del Mare Award, and his latest book, not even available in Canada, is currently a Russian bestseller. Kenneth is also the man behind the ReLit awards: the country’s most meaningful literary award.
Blackstrap Hawco, his 2008 release, a work fifteen years in the writing, has been declared the #1 best book out of Canada in 2008 by Amazon.com, it then made Amazon.ca’s top 50 books of the decade. A Giller and IMPAC finalist, and a Globe & Mail and Quill & Quire book of the year, Blackstrap Hawco is an epic, 848-page family saga about Newfoundland’s working class, and spans more than a century.
From Random House’s website: “Named in a moment of anger, Blackstrap Hawco is heir to an island dominion picked over by its adoptive nation … [and] the family legend might be all his people have left to live for. But as Blackstrap Hawco – a novel that will consume you in its dazzling swirl of voices, legends and beautiful hearsay – testifies, a story this haunting, this powerful, might just be enough.”
“ A masterpiece … brutal, poignant, stunning, infuriating, heartbreaking and hopeful, hard to read and harder still to put aside.” – The Chronicle Herald
Blackstrap Hawco also features Kenneth’s own narrative invention, the transcomposite narrative, which transcomposes passages of non-fiction with fiction. It takes the exact wording of newspaper articles, journal entries, or letters written by real people and attributes them to supposedly fictional characters. Kenneth says, “The transcomposite narrative tries to mirror what we actually see in our memories, because what we see in our minds is always a mixture of fact and fiction or history and myth. It is never entirely one or the other.”
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Salty Ink: Blackstrap Hawco has been dubbed your masterpiece, and it is certainly epic in every way: The unique transcomposite narrative, the fact it was fifteen years in the making, the fact Amazon.ca included it as a top 50 books of the decade, or that Amazon.com called it the #1 book out of Canada in 2008. What’s been the biggest thrill for you about Blackstrap Hawco.
Kenneth J. Harvey: The biggest thrill was having legendary editor, Geoff Mulligan publish Blackstrap in the UK under the Harvill Secker imprint at Random House UK. Geoff edits Jose Saramago, J.M. Coetzee, Joseph O’Connor, Louis de Bernieres and other renowned authors. It was an honour to be published by him.
Salty Ink: As a versatile author of more than 10 books spanning many genres and styles of writing, what sets Blackstrap Hawco apart from your other work, in your mind?
Kenneth J. Harvey: The 15 years of torment it caused me.
Chad's a multi-award-winning author, photographer, and closet musician from St. John's. 
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Hi, Chad -
Just wondering: Do you ever feature Young Adult authors on your site? I write teen novels – 10 so far – and seem to do better in the rest of Canada that here in my place of birth, youth and advancing old age. My web site above has all my info. Would love to hear from you. All the best, Vicki (No relation to Jessica, although, for what it’s worth, we were both shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association Best Young Adult Fiction award.)
Hi Vicky. 10, hey? wow. And congrats on your recognition. I don’t do anything outside of adult literary fiction and poetry at the moment: it’d simply be too much work to start covering non-fiction, YA, etc. I can’t keep up as is.
I am presently reading Annabel and can truthfully say it is the best book ever!
Most interesting that the top three vote getters are all from NL.
All six books are great, but yes, look at that.
Media in Newfoundland certainly covered the competition more than the other Atlantic provinces, if people are voting patriotically. Though, to my surprise, half of these votes are coming from palces like Toronto, Montreal, etc.
Thanks for wasting my thirty minutes morning break, but great write-ups and defenses for these books. Shocked that George & Rue isn’t winning this thing, and impressed by al lthe buzz around Annabel, they got my votes.
Sure, I hope to read all the books celebrated here, but for now I’m reading Blackstrap … and loving it. Loved a few other Harvey books as well.
Best of luck to everyone!
D.
Daniel,
Harvey is in every way an epic writer. If someone twisted my arm for a favourite of his: it’d be Inside, I think. Stylistically innovative, and a showcasing of all my favourite Kenneth J. Harvey traits. And, it’s one of those ten books that really influenced my own writing. Perhaps transparently so.
Thanks for participating in the competition.
Isn’t Nicole Dixon in a relationship with Darryl Whetter? It doesn’t really matter, I suppose, but it does seem a bit disingenuous not to mention this fact, in the interest of full disclosure.
Anyway, I enjoyed Nicole’s defense.
Ron, Yes, Nicole is in a relationship with Darryl. She confessed this, and asked if that was an issue, when I told her that her defending The Push & the Pull would be a final selection. This competition is a rare case where bias is a good thing: I wanted people genuinely passionate about the books they stepped up to defend.Make sense? I hope so. Salty Ink was encouraging biased opinions and impassioned defenses Their relationship in no way affected The Push and the Pull’s likelihood of being a final selection. It may have added some fervour to her enjoyably feisty defense, though, and that I like. But yes, your query was worth addressing, of course. I hope you agree with what I’ve said here.
Thanks for the defence of my defence, Chad. It could be pointed out that 2 other books here (Annabel and February) are being defended by people who work for Anansi (and Anansi published those 2 books). By defending Darryl’s book, I don’t stand to make any money. They do.
Canada’s lit. world is small (and Atlantic Canada’s is even smaller). Invariably, someone reviews a friend’s book, someone else mentions a friend in a critical essay, someone else is the judge for a friend who wins an award. If we kept tabs on all the backscratching in this country, well, there would be some well-scratched backs.
Well, however it pans out, I’ll be readin’ George & Rue and Annabel by summer’s end.
Cheers,
-Duncan.
I just wanted to say kudos to Nicole Dixon! Looking forward to her first book! I thought Perry Moore and Matt Stranach also wrote some solid defenses. (And yet Lisa and Kenneth got my votes. Powerful, powerful novels!)
Look. I love Salty Ink and what you’re doing here. But these vote-based competitions are bogus: they only show who has the most friends and family to support them, or who has the best publicists out rounding up votes, or whose book has been read the most.
Had to be said. Sorry.
DownerBoy: I agree 100%. But it’s not about who wins. I’m just trying to get people talking about 6 books. I know I learned about two new books I’m excited about.
Yes. Lisa Moore is a damn good writer,
and yes, Republic is a classic for good reason,
and yes, George Elliot Clarke is a genius,
and yes, Nicole’s essay was catty and I am intrigued,
and yes, Annabel promises to be a great read …
But c’mon: Blackstrap Hawco! Epic!
Well. Annabel is gorgeous.
I’m S-O-L-D!
Open the polls already!
George & Rue, George & Rue!!!
Bobby.
If your name really is Bobby O’Malley, please Google “Wayne Johnson’s first novel.” and check out the result. A great novel, by the way, if you haven’t read it.
Oooh. This is exciting! I’m going to need to think about these hints…
Apparently Book One and Book Six are the easiest hints. (People have been emailing me, but I’m not confirming or denying guesses!)
I want to nominate, like, a dozen books (but mostly Lynn Coady’s Mean Boy). But, to be clear, that means I’d have to defend the book, right? Because that’s … mildly intimidating …
^^^ I’m with you. Intimidated to defend. My choice? Wangersky’s Burning Down the House.
Bibliolivia (and Ben): Yes, to nominate a book, you have to be willing to defend it with an essay. But there’s nothing to ~ 500 words! (Nice book choices … think about it.)