Amazon.ca First Novel Award
The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a literary award given annually to the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident of Canada.[1] It has been awarded since 1976.[1]
The First Novel Award was founded by the literary magazine Books in Canada.[1] Between 1976 and 1994, the award was sponsored by SmithBooks. During this period, the award was known as the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award.[1] When SmithBooks was acquired by Chapters, it became the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award.[1]
The award was reorganized when Books in Canada was acquired by Adrian and Olga Stein in 1995. The Steins retained a first novel editor, introduced a comprehensive first novel review program, and formalized the adjudication process. In 1999, the magazine decided to end its affiliation with Chapters and became the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award.[1] The Amazon.com arrangement saw the prize award doubled to $10,000.
The award was sold to Amazon.com in 2009 and its name was changed to the current incarnation.
Winners and nominees
At different times in its history, the award has been presented early in the year for works published in the preceding year, late in the year for works published in the same year as the presentation, or mid-year for an eligibility period that straddled parts of both years. For clarity, the list below is organized by the year of presentation rather than the year of publication eligibility.
Year | Winner | Nominated |
---|---|---|
1977 | Ian McLachlan, The Seventh Hexagram[2] Michael Ondaatje, Coming Through Slaughter[2] |
|
1978 | Oonah McFee, Sandbars[3] |
|
1979 | Joan Barfoot, Abra[1] |
|
1980 | Clark Blaise, Lunar Attractions[4] |
|
1981 | W.D. Valgardson, Gentle Sinners[4] |
|
1982 | Joy Kogawa, Obasan[1] |
|
1983 | W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe[5] |
|
1984 | Heather Robertson, Willie: A Romance[4] |
|
1985 | Geoffrey Ursell, Perdue, or How the West Was Lost[6] |
|
1986 | Wayne Johnston, The Story of Bobby O'Malley[7] |
|
1987 | Karen Lawrence, The Life of Helen Alone[8] |
|
1988 | Marion Quednau, The Butterfly Chair[9] |
|
1989 | Rick Salutin, A Man of Little Faith[10] |
|
1990 | Sandra Birdsell, The Missing Child[11] |
|
1991 | Nino Ricci, Lives of the Saints[12] |
|
1992 | Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey[13] |
|
1993 | John Steffler, The Afterlife of George Cartwright[14] |
|
1994 | Deborah Joy Corey, Losing Eddie[15] |
|
1995 | Shyam Selvadurai, Funny Boy[16] |
|
1996 | Keath Fraser, Popular Anatomy[17] |
|
1997 | Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces[18] |
|
1998 | Margaret Gibson, Opium Dreams[19] |
|
1999 | André Alexis, Childhood[20] |
|
2000 | David Macfarlane, Summer Gone[21] Alan R. Wilson, Before the Flood[21] |
|
2001 | Eva Stachniak, Necessary Lies[22] |
|
2002 | Michael Redhill, Martin Sloane[23] |
|
2003 | Mary Lawson, Crow Lake[24] |
|
2004 | Michel Basilières, Black Bird[25] |
|
2005 | Colin McAdam, Some Great Thing[26] |
|
2006 | Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road[27] |
|
2007 | Madeleine Thien, Certainty[28] |
|
2008 | Gil Adamson, The Outlander[29] |
|
2009 | Joan Thomas, Reading by Lightning[30] |
|
2010 | Jessica Grant, Come, Thou Tortoise[31] |
|
2011 | Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal[1] |
|
2012 | David Bezmozgis, The Free World[32] |
|
2013 | Anakana Schofield, Malarky[1] |
|
2014 | Wayne Grady, Emancipation Day[33] |
|
2015 | Alix Hawley, All True Not a Lie in It[34] |
|
2016 | Mona Awad, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl[35] |
|
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "First Novel Award helps write authors' careers: All awards are crapshoots, but for a prize that recognizes writers with little or no track record, a surprising number become successful". The Globe and Mail, May 21, 2016.
- 1 2 "New corporate outlook on helping writers: more cash, fewer strings". The Globe and Mail, June 7, 1977.
- ↑ "And the winner is..." The Globe and Mail, April 1, 1978.
- 1 2 3 "First-novel-award prize is increased to $5,000". The Globe and Mail, January 20, 1988.
- ↑ "The timeless metaphors of baseball". The Globe and Mail, November 17, 1984.
- ↑ "Writer from Regina wins book award". The Globe and Mail, March 29, 1985.
- ↑ "Lives in isolation". The Globe and Mail, January 9, 1988.
- ↑ "Lawrence captures $3,000 literary prize". The Globe and Mail, April 3, 1987.
- ↑ "BC woman (Quednau) wins first-novel award". Winnipeg Free Press, April 3, 1998.
- ↑ "Salutin wins $5,000 prize". Toronto Star, March 30, 1989.
- ↑ "Winnipeg author wins first-novel prize". Ottawa Citizen, March 30, 1990.
- ↑ "Ricci novel wins second big prize". Calgary Herald, March 26, 1991.
- ↑ "Mistry novel earns Smith award". Halifax Daily News, March 27, 1992.
- ↑ "Story from 'fascinating' journal wins Steffler first novel award". Halifax Daily News, March 27, 1993.
- ↑ "New Brunswicker wins book award". Calgary Herald, March 25, 2994.
- ↑ "Funny Boy author wins $5,000 SmithBooks prize". Toronto Star, March 22, 1995.
- ↑ "Fraser wins First Novel prize". Toronto Star, April 26, 1996.
- ↑ "Anne Michaels wins $5,000 first novel prize". Edmonton Journal, May 29, 1997.
- ↑ "Opium Dreams wins award". Ottawa Citizen, April 25, 1998.
- ↑ "Andre Alexis wins first novel award". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, April 30, 1999.
- ↑ "Necessary Lies wins first-novel award". The Globe and Mail, September 26, 2001.
- ↑ "Michael Redhill picks up first-novel honours". Edmonton Journal, October 2, 2002.
- ↑ "Mary Lawson wins first novel award for Crow Lake". National Post, October 9, 2003.
- ↑ "Basilieres wins first novel award". The Telegram, October 17, 2004.
- ↑ "Montreal's Colin McAdam wins First Novel Award". The Globe and Mail, October 7, 2005.
- ↑ "Joseph Boyden wins Amazon first-novel award". The Globe and Mail, October 12, 2006.
- ↑ "Quebec City's Thien wins First Novel Award". Montreal Gazette, October 9, 2007.
- ↑ "Adamson wins First Novel Award". Telegraph-Journal, October 2, 2008.
- ↑ "Thomas wins Amazon First Novel Award". The Globe and Mail, September 25, 2009.
- ↑ "Jessica Grant takes first-novel honour". The Globe and Mail, May 1, 2010.
- ↑ "Toronto writer wins first-novel prize". Victoria Times-Colonist, April 29, 2012.
- ↑ "Seasoned author's debut novel a winner". Winnipeg Free Press, May 10, 2014.
- ↑ "Alix Hawley's All True Not A Lie In It wins Amazon.ca First Novel Award". The Globe and Mail. May 21, 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
- ↑ "Mona Awad wins Amazon.ca First Novel Award". CBC Books, May 26, 2016.
External links
- First Novel Award at Amazon.ca
- Official Books in Canada website (last updated December 2006)