Monday, May 28, 2007
Bernice Eisenstein Shortlisted for Trillium Award
:: Posted by Bryan @ 5/28/2007 12:10:00 AM Bernice Eisenstein's graphic memoir I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors has been shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award. This is the first time a comics-related effort (I Was a Child is part graphic novel, part text memoir) has been nominated for the prestigious prize. It is also the first such book to be nominated for any of Canada's more substantial literary prizes. After the Governor General Awards and the Giller, the Trillium is one of the more lucrative canlit awards. Founded by the Ontario government, the Trillium Award comes with a $20,000 pay-out and an additional $2500 bonus to the winning book's publisher for purposes of promotion.
The nomination of Eisenstein's book, created in close collaboration with her editor at McClelland & Stewart, is a further sign of a willingness on the part of the mainstream publishing world in Canada to engage with graphic novels as serious, prize-worthy literature in company with more traditional prose novels and non-fiction. The book, described by her publisher as a distillation, "through text and drawings, including panels in the comic-book format," of "Eisenstein's memories of her 1950s' childhood in Toronto with her Yiddish-speaking parents, whose often unspoken experiences of war were nevertheless always present," is part of a trend towards developing graphic novels in-house that has obviously borne fruit for M & S. Competing against several heavy hitters including Wayne Johnston, Dionne Brand, and Charlotte Gray, it does not seem likely that Eisenstein will win the prize with this, her first book, despite the good intentions of those involved in the nomination process. And who knows, maybe the example of the Trillium nod will lead to future attention for full-fledged graphic novels by more established creators.
The Minister responsible for the awards will announce the winners in Toronto at an awards luncheon at Hart House on June 4.
The nominees:
Anar Ali, Baby Khaki's Wings (Penguin Group Canada)
Dionne Brand, Inventory (McClelland & Stewart)
Bernice Eisenstein, I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors (McClelland & Stewart)
Mark Frutkin, Fabrizio's Return (Knopf Canada)
Charlotte Gray, Reluctant Genius (HarperCollins Canada)
Wayne Johnston, The Custodian of Paradise (Knopf Canada)Labels: analysis, awards, events, graphic novels
-  Stumble It! -
0 comments
|
|
