Thirteen winners of the 2020 Atlantic Book Awards were announced virtually on Tuesday, and two Newfoundland authors were among the winners.
Michael Crummey won one of the country’s largest book prizes — the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award — for his novel, “The Innocents,” published by Doubleday Canada. It’s about a brother and sister orphaned in an isolated cove on Newfoundland’s northern coastline.
The $25,000 prize is awarded by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, with support from Thomas Head Raddall’s family.
Gemma Hickey and Breakwater Books took home two awards for Hickey’s memoir, “Almost Feral”. Breakwater Books won the APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award, and Hickey won the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Non-Fiction).
“Almost Feral” traces Hickey’s 908-kilometre trek across Newfoundland in 2015, raising funds for survivors of religious institutional abuse. It also tells their story of self-discovery, which led to the realization they are transgender.
Nova Scotia’s Ami McKay was a double winner for her book, “Daughter of Family G: A Memoir of Cancer Genes,” which took home the Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award and the Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award (Non-Fiction).
Other winners included Martha Wilson, Sheree Fitch, L. Jane McMillan, Andrew Theobald, Marina Endicott, Lucas Crawford, Sydney Smith and Amy Spurway.
