News

QWF Announces the 2022 QWF Awards Shortlists, Including New Spoken Word Prize

Posted on: 17 October, 2022

Category: QWF Awards, QWF News

Finalists to be honoured evening of November 14
at Cabaret Lion d’Or

[Montreal. October 17, 2022] The Quebec Writers’ Federation is proud to announce the shortlists for the 2022 QWF Literary Awards.

The winners of these eight prestigious prizes will be announced at a special gala ceremony on Monday, November 14 at Cabaret Lion d’Or (1676 Ontario St. E.). The ceremony begins at 8:00 p.m., preceded by a cocktail reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

This year marks a new addition to the Gala awards roster. The QWF Spoken Word Prize will be awarded to up to three Quebec-based spoken word, storytelling, or literary performance artists working primarily in English in any form of performative writing, including poetry, story, monologue, hip hop, dub, sound poetry, experimental or interdisciplinary work.

Winners of the QWF Spoken Word Prize will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a featured spot at the 2023 Words & Music Show. All Spoken Word finalists will perform at AELAQ’s Holiday Book Fair on November 4, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. and their performances will be preserved online via the SpokenWeb Archive of the Present.

The other seven awards come with a purse of $3,000 each.

The theme for the event is “Complex Times: When Nothing Is Black and White.” Attendees are invited to get in the spirit of the theme by dressing up in anything but black and white. Wear your brightest, most vibrant array of colours, or dress in your many shades of grey. Those who participate will have their names entered into a draw for a special prize.

 

This year’s finalists

A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry

Sponsored by Byron Rempel

  • D.M. Bradford, Dream of No One but Myself (Brick Books)
  • Avery Lake, Horrible Dance (Brick Books)
  • Prathna Lor, Emanations (Wolsak & Wynn Publishers)
  • Gillian Sze, Quiet Night Think (ECW Press)

Concordia University First Book Prize

Sponsored by Concordia University

  • D.M. Bradford, Dream of No One but Myself (Brick Books)
  • Trynne Delaney, the half-drowned (Metatron Press)
  • Kasia Van Schaik, We Have Never Lived On Earth (University of Alberta Press)

Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature

  • Matthew Forsythe, Mina (Simon & Schuster Canada)
  • Marie-Louise Gay, I’m Not Sydney (Groundwood Books)
  • Elise Gravel, Pink, Blue, and You (Anne Schwartz Books)
  • Gillian Sze, You Are My Favorite Color (Philomel Books)

Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction

  • Nora Loreto, Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic (Fernwood Publishing)
  • Christopher Neal, The Rebel Scribe: Carleton Beals and the Progressive Challenge to U.S. Policy in Latin America (Hamilton Books, Rowman & Littlefield)
  • Sina Queyras, Rooms: Women, Writing, Woolf (Coach House Books)
  • Marc Raboy, Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian Rebel (House of Anansi Press)

Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction

Sponsored by Paragraphe Bookstore

  • Anita Anand, A Convergence of Solitudes (Book*hug Press)
  • Baharan Baniahmadi, Prophetess (Véhicule Press)
  • Rawi Hage, Stray Dogs (Alfred A. Knopf Canada)
  • Neil Smith, Jones (Random House Canada)

Prix de Traduction de la Fondation Cole

  • Nicolas Calvé, Plus aucun enfant autochtone arraché (Lux Éditeur)1
  • Jonathan Lamy, Le premier coup de clairon pour réveiller les femmes immorales (Mémoire d’encrier)2
  • Lori Saint-Martin et Paul Gagné, Fils d’un tout petit héros (Éditions Boréal)3

1A translation of Samir Shaheen-Hussain’s Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism Against Indigenous Children in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
2A translation of Rachel McCrum’s The First Blast to Awaken Women Degenerate (Mémoire d’encrier)
3A translation of Mordecai Richler’s Son of a Smaller Hero (Penguin Random House Canada)

QWF Prize for Playwriting

Sponsored by Gabriel Safdie in conjunction with Infinithéâtre

  • Alexandria Haber & Ned Cox, The Silent Woman (The White Bear Theatre)
  • Arthur Holden, Beloved (The Road Theatre Company)
  • Erin Shields, Beautiful Man (Playwrights Canada Press)
  • Erin Shields, The Millennial Malcontent (Playwrights Canada Press)

QWF Spoken Word Prize Finalists

  • Deborah Braide
  • Liana Cusmano
  • Lucia De Luca
  • Roen Higgins
  • Erín Moure
  • Caitlin Murphy
  • Johanne Pelletier
  • Raïssa Simone

Other Awards

This year’s gala ceremony will also unveil the winners of several other awards, including the QWF College Writers Award, which is supported by Champlain, Dawson, Heritage, John Abbott, Marianopolis, and Vanier Colleges. A prize of $1,000 and publication in carte blanche, the QWF’s online literary journal, will be awarded to a student of one of the sponsoring colleges. The finalists for the 2022 QWF College Writers Award are: Eden Andrews for “Misremembering” (from Dawson College); Rama Al Mahal for “Rusty Keys” (from Champlain College Saint-Lambert); and Djamila Mostefai for “When Clichés Are Okay” (from Dawson College).

Also announced will be the winner of the carte blanche Prize, sponsored by Mark Gallop. Finally, the honorary Judy Mappin Community Award will be bestowed upon a person who has contributed to the advancement of Quebec’s English-language literary community.

The QWF Literary Awards Gala takes place on Monday, November 14 at Cabaret Lion d’Or (1676 Ontario St. E.). A catered cocktail reception, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., will precede the ceremony, which begins at 8:00 p.m. The event will be hosted by poet and performer Rachel McCrum.

Attending the QWF Literary Awards Gala

The public is invited to a cocktail reception with the finalists preceding the Gala from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the reception are $50 ($40 for full-time students) and include two glasses of wine, beer, or non-alcoholic drink and admission to the awards ceremony, which begins at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets for the ceremony alone are $25 ($10 for full-time students). Doors open to the public at 7:30 p.m.

All tickets can be purchased online by visiting https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2022-qwf-awards-gala-tickets-435783428967. Tickets can also be purchased through the QWF office by appointment (514-933-0878, riley@qwf.org, 1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3).

For more information about the event, visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2022-qwf-awards-gala-tickets-435783428967 or email riley@qwf.org.

For information about the shortlisted authors, including photos and book summaries, visit the QWF Literary Database at http://quebecbooks.qwf.org.

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Media Inquiries:
Gina Roitman
(514) 924-9836
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