Give an award-winning book this holiday season

If you have a book lover to buy a gift for this Christmas you're likely to find some great gift-giving ideas by perusing this year's list of Saskatchewan Book Award winners. The 2006 award winners were announced during a gala event held in Regina on Nov. 25.

The 2006 Book of the Year Award was presented to Michael Trussler for Encounters, which also earned the Regina Book Award. Encounters is Trussler's first collection of short fiction in which he explores the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary people.

The Fiction Award went to The Apothecary by Martha Blum. Blum's latest novel continues the story of characters she first introduced in The Walnut Tree The Apothecary focuses on Felix, beginning with his experiences in war time Czernowitz, Ukraine in the 1940s and following him through to the 1960s, where the echoes of war continue to impact lives.

Once In A Blue Moon: An Artist's Life by Marie Elyse St. George won the Non-fiction Award. In the book, St. George shares with the reader the story of her life as an artist, and of how she has used visual art, poetry, stories, essays, photographs and family history to make her statements-artistic, political and personal.

Annette Lapointe's book Stolen was presented with the First Book Award and the Saskatoon Book Award. In it, Lapointe introduces the reader to Rowan Friesen, a career criminal who finds himself entwined in murder mystery, which unfolds alongside the telling of Friesen's own life story, providing insight into how and why things in his life have gone so wrong.

The Children's Literature Award was presented to Arthur Slade's book, Megiddo's Shadow, which tells the tale of a 16-year-old farm boy from the prairies who joins the army during the First World War, only to find his romantic ideas of fighting for king and country shattered in the face of the horrors of the battlefield.

The Poetry Award went to Daniel Scott Tysdal for Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method, a collection of poems that deals with the dangers of the age in which we live, with threats from technology, AIDS and terror. Although his poems have been featured in a number of literary journals, this is Tysdal's first book
The Prix Du Livre Francais Award went to Amelia et les Papillons by Martine Noel-Maw.

On the Side of the People: A History of Labour in Saskatchewan by Jim Warren and Kathleen Carlisle won the Scholarly Writing Award and the Publishing in Education Award. The book traces the development of Saskatchewan's work force from the mid-1800s to present-day.

Reading The River by Myrna Kostash and Duane Burton received the Award for Publishing. A literary tour of the North Saskatchewan River, the book gathers together works written over the years that help paint a picture of the waterway as it snakes its way across three provinces.

The First Peoples Publishing Award was presented to Joseph Jean Fauchon for The Métis Alphabet Book, a children's book that introduces young readers to Métis history and culture from A to Z.

If you're in the market for a great book by an Aboriginal author, you might also find what you're looking for among the books short-listed for a Saskatchewan Book Award in the First Peoples Publishing Category.

Another book joining The Métis Alphabet Book in making the cut was Christmas at Wapos Bay by Jordan Wheeler and Dennis Jackson. Based on the successful claymation film of the same name, the children's book follows Talon, Raven and T-Bear during an eventful visit to their moshum's trap line.

Morningstar: A Warrior's Spirit, Morningstar Mercredi's personal story of overcoming abuse, poverty and discrimination, was also short-listed for the award, as was Howard Adams: Otapawy! a book edited by Hartmut Lutz, Murray Hamilton and Donna Heimbecker that combines writings by the late Métis leader and scholar with remembrances about Adams written by friends, family and people whose lives were touched by his work.

Rounding out the list are Treaty Promises, Indian Reality: Life on a Reserve, a book by Harold LeRat and Linda Ungar in which LeRat recounts his life on Cowessess First Nation, his residential school experiences and the political history of his home community, and Back Track, a novel by Harold Johnson in which the author explores the power of cultural wisdom and traditional beliefs.