Sonia Tilson, Andrew Steinmetz Shortlisted for Ottawa Book Awards

Wonderful news from our friends at the Ottawa Citizen:

This year’s list of finalists for the Ottawa Book Awards includes an first-time novelist at age 80, a Citizen journalist, a former prime minister, a political pundit, a rising young writer and a popular Canadian historian.

Can you spot the Biblioasis authors? We're very proud to announce that both Sonia Tilson (The Monkey Puzzle Tree) and Andrew Steinmetz (This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla) have been shortlisted for Ottawa Book Awards, in the fiction and non-fiction category respectively.

In fiction the other condtendors are Henry Beissel (Fugitive Horizons, Guernica Editions Inc), Rita Donovan (Maura Quell, Buschek Books), Barbara Fradkin (The Whisper of Legends, Dundurn Press), and David O’Meara (A Pretty Sight, Coach House Books). In non-fiction the awards highlight new books from Joe Clark (How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change, Penguin Random House of Canada), Charlotte Gray (The Massey Murder, HarperCollins), Robert Sibley (The Way of the 88 Temples, University of Virginia Press), and Paul Wells (The Longer I’m Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada). 

The awards will be presented on Oct. 22, at 8 p.m at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans. For more information please see: https://ottawa.ca/en/liveculture/ottawa-book-awards-finalists. Our heartfelt congratulations to Sonia and Andrew!

Cynthia Flood in LRC; Sonia Tilson in Ninnau

Two reviews in the past week that are hard to come by online: one, a piece in the Welsh-American newspaper Ninnau & Y Drych, for Sonia Tilson's The Monkey Puzzle Tree, and another for Cynthia Flood's Red Girl Rat Boy in The Literary Review of Canada. Here's what Bob Roser had to say about Sonia's book: "I read several [passages] to my wife Cindy, who was very struck by the language ... The writing is flawless and I found myself drawn in from the beginning by the storytelling." It was also nice to get a more academic treatment of RGRB, with Joel Deshaye of Canadian Literature commenting on Cynthia's use of the politics of mythology (plus an entertaining digression on Rob Ford). Here's his conclusion:

Like metaphors, myths are nearly everywhere. Red Girl Rat Boy tells us
that metaphor and myth are not separate from the so-called real world, but
that they help to define its politics. And while critics may treat the words and
actions of politicians with skepticism, Flood treats most of her characters nonjudgementally—a gesture of respect for them and for her readers.

Happy Thursday, everyone. If you're in Toronto don't forget to check out our poetry panel tonight at Ben McNally books; apparently last night in Montreal was a blast.

The Dark Reality of Evacuation: Sonia Tilson in the Ottawa Citizen

Sonia Tilson and editor
John Metcalf, at the Plan 99
Reading Series last Saturday.

"Sonia Tilson has always been in the word business," begins the profile that ran yesterday in Sonia's hometown paper. Of The Monkey Puzzle Tree, Sonia's debut that launched a week ago at David O'Meara's Plan 99 Reading Series, the Citizen says: "[it's] no soft sell. It is a well-written, clear-eyed look at the evacuation of small children from British cities during the Second World War." For more on Sonia and her novel, check out the profile here. And remember, if you're by Books on Beechwood this afternoon, Sonia's signing books as we speak! She's there till 3. Happy Saturday, folks. 

Sonia Tilson shortlisted for CAA National Capital Region Award

Congratulations to Sonia Tilson, who will soon be releasing her novel The Monkey Puzzle Tree with Biblioasis, as she has been named a finalist for the Canadian Authors Association Natioanl Capital Region Writing Award.

The winners will be announced Tuesday, May 14th at 7pm at the Ottawa Public Library, Auditorium, 120 Metcalfe St. at Laurier.

Congrats and all our best to Sonia!