Congratulations to Toronto Book Awards finalist James Maskalyk! In his nominated book Life on the Ground Floor the author draws upon his experience treating patients in emergency rooms across the globe. The judges said, “Dr. Maskalyk has a gift for distilling a pivotal life moment into almost painful clarity, capturing heartbeats of intermingled triumph and tragedy from a career that spans decades and continents.”

The 2017 Awards will be handed out October 12 at the Toronto Reference Library’s Bram and Bluma Appel Salon.

Since it’s May release, Karma Brown’s latest novel In This Moment has been enthusiastically received by fans new and old. Ms. Career Girl calls it “the most thought-provoking reading adventure of the season,” and Working Mother says, “you will be a forever fan after completing this breathtaking tale.” In This Moment has made a number of “must-read” lists including Brit + Co‘s 10 Magnetic Reads for Memorial Day Weekend, Bookstr‘s 20 Books for Your Ultimate Summer Reading List, and Redbook‘s 20 Must-Read Books for Spring 2017.

We are thrilled to see books from Arthur Ellis Award winner Elle Wild and Ethel Wilson Prize winner Jennifer Manuel on BCLiving’s list of 11 Great Summer Reads by B.C. Authors. Wild’s debut thriller Strange Things Done takes place in the sleepy tourist town of Dawson City, Yukon, where a suspicious suicide occurs just as the roads are closing for winter. Manuel’s debut novel The Heaviness of Things that Float explores the delicate dynamic between First Nations Communities and non-native outsiders.

Jamil Jivani joined Matt Galloway of CBC’s Metro Morning to discuss the recent events in Charlottesville. Jivani is a Toronto researcher, lawyer and community organizer who is writing a book on why young men join radicalized groups. Listen to the show here.

David Chariandy was interviewed by Catherine Hernandez, author of Scarborough, on his highly-anticipated novel Brother. The author discusses the long wait between books, race and literature, fear, and grief. See the full article from Quill & Quire here.

In 1922, a 15-year-old girl, tired of life in a French convent school, answered an advertisement for a traveling secretary. Almost a century later, Aloha Wanderwell has just been recognized by Guinness World Records as the first female to drive around the world. The daring youth, who would fill the role of pilot, actress, and ambassador for world peace, is the subject of Christian Fink-Jensen and Randolph Eustace-Walden’s  Aloha Wanderwell: The Border-Smashing, Record-Setting Life of the World’s Youngest Explorer.

Congratulations to Kamal Al-Solaylee, whose book Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone) won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

The jury, composed of CBC foreign correspondent Nahlah Ayed, National Postcolumnist Colby Cosh, and former Member of Parliament Megan Leslie selected the winner. Their citation reads:

Not black, not white, but brown: how do skin colour and its shades play out in our relationships, our economy, and our politics? Kamal Al-Solaylee’s book dares to propose and define an emerging racial category, drawing on a lifetime’s travel and inquiry to discuss the common experience and the awkward status of the Latin, Asian, and Mediterranean peoples of the fast-rising global south. Thoughtful and refreshing, Brown has a chance to become a made-in-Canada intellectual landmark.

We’re delighted to announce that Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations, from the late Richard Wagamese, won the 2017 BC Booksellers’ Choice Award. In this beautiful collection of reflections Wagamese shares his hard-won wisdom on how to feel the joy in everyday things.

Congratulations to 2017 Ethel Wilson Prize winner Jennifer Manuel! In her debut novel, The Heaviness of Things That Float, Manuel explores the delicate dynamic between First Nations Communities and non-native outsiders.

In her review of Jessica Raya’s new novel, Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit, Winnipeg Free Press writer Sharon Chisvin calls it “delightful, engaging… a surprising pleasure to read.” Read the full review here.