Aboriginal authors well represented on awards shortlist

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The shortlist for this year's Saskatchewan Book Awards has been announced, and there is no shortage of Aboriginal authors and subject matter among those chosen.

"I guess there are two trends," said Glenda James, executive director of the annual book awards.

"One is certainly there are a number of Aboriginal authors in a variety of categories. And the other thing that I noticed is that there's quite a number of entries-and it still is reflected in the short list-there are books that are on subjects that may be of interested to Aboriginal people in particular."

This year's Saskatchewan Book Awards will be handed out at the Delta Regina Hotel in Regina on Nov. 25, with winners to be announced in 12 categories. The books chosen for the shortlist were selected from among 221 entries submitted for consideration.

Among this year's shortlisted authors are Neal McLeod, whose book Songs to Kill a Wihtikow is up for consideration for Book of the Year, Poetry and Publishing in Education categories and Sandra Birdsell, who is shortlisted for Book of the Year and Fiction awards for her book Children of the Day.

Tapwe: Selected Columns of Doug Cuthand has earned its author a spot on the shortlist in the First Book category, while Simple Bliss: the Paintings and Prints of Mary Pratt by Patricia Deadman and Robin Laurence is shortlisted in the non-fiction category.

Another book by Deadman, Mary Aski-Piyesiwiskwew Longman, is also up for consideration for the First Peoples Publishing Award. Other shortlisted books in the category include Through the Eyes of the Cree and Beyond, by Dean Bauche, curator of the Allen Sapp Gallery, Cree: Language of the Plains by Jean Okimasis, and Maskeko-sakahikanihk: 100 Years for a Saskatchewan First Nation by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

Books with Aboriginal subject matter also pepper this year's shortlist, including Bitter Embrace: White Society's Assault on the Woodland Cree by Maggie Siggins, which is up for consideration for Book of the Year, non-fiction and Regina Book Award. Other titles include Fighting Firewater Fictions: Moving Beyond the Disease Model of Alcoholism in First Nations by Richard W.

Thatcher, nominated in the Scholarly Writing category and Divergences: Rebecca Belmore and Shelly Niro by Lee-Ann Martin, a finalist in the Award for Publishing category.

Even some of the books not specifically dealing with Aboriginal subjects have drawn praise for the way they reflect Aboriginal culture and people. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, one of the finalists, spoke at a shortlist event held in Saskatoon on Nov. 6, James said. "And she made mention of a couple of books. And one in particular that she mentioned was Bill Waiser's history of Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan: A New History) and that his presentation of Saskatchewan's history was more inclusive and sensitive to the Aboriginal community."

While the highlight of the awards banquet will obviously be the announcement of this year's Saskatchewan Book Award winners, those in attendance will also learn which book will be named the favourite Saskatchewan book of the last 100 years, when the results of the 100 Books for 100 Years contest will be announced.

The contest, co-ordinated by the Saskatchewan Book Awards, the Saskatchewan Publisher's Group, the Saskatchewan Library Association and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, gave people across the province a chance to vote for their all-time favourite Saskatchewan book.

"The idea was just to promote the notion of Saskatchewan books and Saskatchewan writing and just to have some fun and see what people considered the best loved," James said.

Among the books in the running for the honour of being named favourite Saskatchewan book are Blueberry Clouds by Rita Bouvier, Half-Breed by Maria Campbell, Blue Marrow by Louise Halfe, Gift of the Hawk by Randy Lundy, The History of the Metis at Willow Bunch by Ron Rivard and Catherine Littlejohn and I Heard the Drum by Allan Sapp.

For more informtion about the Saskatchewan Book Awards, visit the awards Web site at www.bookawards.sk.ca.