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2021 Alberta Literary Awards Shortlist

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta has announced the shortlist for the 2021 Alberta Literary Awards, Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize, and 2020 City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Each year, the Alberta Literary Awards, the City of Edmonton and The City of Calgary recognize and celebrate the highest standards of literary excellence from Alberta authors.

Details for the upcoming Virtual Readings with the Finalists and the Alberta Literary Awards Gala will be announced on the Writers’ Guild of Alberta website and social media, and also here on Read Alberta. Details for the presentation of The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize will be available at calgary.ca/calgaryawards.

The juries deliberated on more than 250 submissions to select the following 30 finalists in ten categories. Finalists represent excellence in literary work written by Alberta authors and published or created in 2020.

 

Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry

(Sponsored by Stephan V. Benediktson)

Response of Weeds, The: A Misplacement of Black Poetry on the Prairies

Bertrand Bickersteth (CA)

Published: Apr 01, 2020 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781988732794
Ghosts Still Linger

Kat Cameron

Published: Feb 18, 2020 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772125092
I Know Something You Don't Know

Amy LeBlanc (CA)

Published: Feb 01, 2020 by Gordon Hill Press
ISBN: 9781928171973

Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction

(Supported by Vivian Hansen)

Relax, Dammit!: A User's Guide to the Age of Anxiety

Timothy Caulfield (CA)

Published: Dec 01, 2020 by Penguin Canada
ISBN: 9780735236325
One Game at a Time: My Journey from Small-Town Alberta to Hockey's Biggest Stage

Harnarayan Singh (CA)

Published: Sep 22, 2020 by McClelland & Stewart
ISBN: 9780771073892
And This Is the Cure

Annette Lapointe (CA)

Published: Dec 30, 2020 by Anvil Press
ISBN: 9781772141511

Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction

Always Brave, Sometimes Kind: A Novel

Katie Bickell (CA)

Published: Sep 29, 2020 by TouchWood Editions
ISBN: 9781927366912
The Finder: A Novel

Will Ferguson (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2020 by Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781982139698
And This Is the Cure

Annette Lapointe (CA)

Published: Dec 30, 2020 by Anvil Press
ISBN: 9781772141511

James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction

(Supported by Marilyn and Bob Stallworthy)

Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story

(Sponsored by the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society)

The 2021 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize Finalists

Taken by the Muse: On the Path to Becoming a Filmmaker

Anne Wheeler (CA)

Published: Oct 15, 2020 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390016
Like Rum-Drunk Angels

Tyler Enfield (CA)

Published: Mar 03, 2020 by Goose Lane Editions
ISBN: 9781773101309

The 2020 City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize Finalists

Response of Weeds, The: A Misplacement of Black Poetry on the Prairies

Bertrand Bickersteth (CA)

Published: Apr 01, 2020 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781988732794
The Finder: A Novel

Will Ferguson (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2020 by Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781982139698
Under Shifting Stars

Alexandra Latos (CA)

Published: Sep 29, 2020 by HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780358067757

R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature

(Sponsored by Under the Arch Youth Foundation at The Calgary Foundation)

The Silence Slips In

Alison Hughes (CA)

Published: Mar 05, 2019 by Orca Book Publishers
ISBN: 9781459817067
My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother, and Me: These Are the Things We Found By the Sea

Natalie Meisner (CA)

Published: Apr 08, 2019 by Nimbus Publishing
ISBN: 9781771087414
Boxitects

Kim Smith (CA)

Published: Sep 03, 2019 by HarperCollins
ISBN: 9781443456111

Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award

  • Jannie Edwards (Edmonton) – “Meditations on Tenderness in a Time of Plague”
  • Peter Midgley (Edmonton) – “Bird”
  • Barbara Scott (Calgary) – “Black Diamond”

Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama

(Sponsored by Alberta Views Magazine)

  • Ellen Chorley (Edmonton) – Everybody Loves Robbie
  • Matthew Mackenzie (Edmonton) – Bears
  • Clem Martini (Calgary) – Cantata