Two CBU Press books up for literary prizes
Atlantic book awards scheduled for St. John’s, May 17
Sydney, March 21, 2012 –When the Atlantic Book Awards take the stage in St. John’s, NL, on May 17, two Cape Breton books will be competing with some of the largest publishing houses in the region for three prizes. Both books were published by Cape Breton University Press in 2011.
Inverness writer Frank Macdonald’s 2011 novel, A Possible Madness is shortlisted for the Dartmouth Book Award for fiction. This is Macdonald’s second trip to the awards. His first novel A Forest for Calum was also shortlisted for the Dartmouth.
A Possible Madness is the story of the fictional town of Shean, a small town of depleted resources and shrinking population. The lengths that civic leaders go to in order to do “what’s best” for a town like Shean has unintended consequences, including the threat of environmental degradation.
Colchester County historians Carol Campbell and James Smith are shortlisted for two awards: the Dartmouth Book Award for non-fiction and the Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing, for their book about 18th-century Planter society in the district of Cobequid.
Necessaries and Sufficiencies: Planter Society in Londonderry, Onslow and Truro, 1761-1780, is a social political, cultural and material micro history of 18th-century daily life in the district of Cobequid, now part of Colchester County. Last year (2011) marked 250 years since the coming of New England and Irish Planters to Nova Scotia.
The 2012 Atlantic Book Awards and Festival takes place May 10-17 with readings and events in all four Atlantic provinces, culminating with the awards celebration at the famed LSPU Hall in St. John’s on Thursday, May 17.