Nerys Parry’s remarkable debut novel Man and Other Natural Disasters is now available in E&W’s limited edition hardcover.  Just a page or two and you’ll be hooked!  Ottawa’s Collected Works Bookstore will host a reading on Thursday, November 10th at 7pm.

The 2011 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards has awarded a gold medal to Craig Russell for his fable Black Bottle Man in the category of Young Adult Fiction - Fantasy/Sci Fi, a silver medal in the category of Young Adult Fiction - General to Sarah Raymond for her debut Signs of Martha , and a bronze medal to Gail Sidonie Sobat (a 2009 Moonbeam gold medalist) for Chance to Dance for You in the category of Young Adult Fiction - Mature Issues.  Congratulations Craig and Sarah on such wonderful debut novels and to Gail for her continuing gift in writing for young adults!

Canada’s storyteller, W.P. Kinsella, is back with his first novel in 13 years, Butterfly Winter.  His modest book tour sees him in Edmonton and Calgary and in Victoria for a reading at Bolen Books.  Contact your local bookseller to purchase this limited edition hardcover of a legendary writer’s newest work.

Events for this year’s On the Same Page initiative got underway at McNally Robinson on September 7th, with a reading from each of the shortlisted authors.  Folks were on the edge of their seats as Craig Russell drew on his theatre background to wow listeners with his fable of Rembrandt and the Black Bottle Man.  Don’t miss your chance to Vote for Craig Russell here and get the whole province sharing this story.

We’re very excited to announce that two of our authors have made the longlist for the 2011 ReLit Awards.  Michelle Berry with her fourth novel This Book Will Not Save Your LIfe and Richard Cumyn with his beautiful collection of short stories The Young in Their Country.  Congratulations Richard and Michelle!

Three Great Plains authors will be featured at the Word on the Water literary festival in Kenora, Ontario which runs from October 21st to 23rd.  Susan Rocan, Helen Norrie and Craig Russell will participate in the festivals Saturday programming.

Craig Russell’s Black Bottle Man has been nominated for the Winnipeg Public Library’s fourth On the Same Page initiative!  Let’s get all of Manitoba reading this wonderful fable by voting for Black Bottle Man HERE

Richard Cumyn’s gripping collection of short stories, The Young in Their Country, has made the longlist for the 2011 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.  Congratulations Richard!

We are proud to announce that two of our Great Plains Teen Fiction authors have recently been shortlisted for awards.
Congratulations to Craig Russell whose wonderful fable Black Bottle Man has been named a finalist for the 2011 Prix Aurora Awards for Best English Novel.
And congratulations to Nicole Luiken whose novel Dreamfire (2008) has been shortlisted for the 2011-2012 Stellar Award.
Best of luck to both of you!

The purpose of one of Canada’s oldest literary awards is to encourage the study and interpretation of the history of Manitoba. In its celebration of one of Winnipeg’s most colourful and distinctive areas, Russ Gourluck’s The Mosaic Village, An Illustrated History of Winnipeg’s North End certainly accomplished this. Congratulations Russ on receiving one of the 2010 Margaret McWilliams Awards!

A Dog’s Breakfast has been named the winner of the Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year award at the 2011 Manitoba Book Awards.  Congratulations to Jess Young and the dazzling team of designers at Relish Design Studio!

The Manitoba Book Awards has announced its shortlist for 2011 and the following Great Plains titles have made the cut:

Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction - Andy De Jarlis: The Life and Music of an Old-Time Fiddler by Joe MacIntosh

Best Illustrated Book of the Year - The Mosaic Village: An Illustrated History of Winnipeg’s North End by Russ Gourluck

Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book - Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell

Manuela Dias Book Design of the Year - A Dog’s Breakfast: A Chef’s Guide to Healthy Home Cooking for Your Favourite Pooch by Jess Young

McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award - Older Category - Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell

Congratulations to these talented authors and best of luck on the 17th of April!

Michelle Berry, author of This Book Will Not Save Your Life, is scheduled to host the short story session at The Lakefield Literary Festival with Alexander MacLeod and Sarah Selecky.  The Ontario festival runs July 15-18.  Don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy these three talented literary voices in person!

Nominated in the category of local history The Mosaic Village, An Illustrated History of Winnipeg’s North End has been shortlisted for one of the oldest literary awards in Canada.  Readings from shortlisted books will be given on Monday, April 25, 2011 at McNally Robinson Booksellers in the Atrium, hosted by The Manitoba Historical Society.  Congratulations Russ!

Fans of W.P. Kinsella will be excited to learn that his first novel since 1998 has won Enfield & Wizenty’s 2nd annual Colophon Prize and will be released this September. There was a significant increase in the number of manuscripts submitted to the Winnipeg publisher this year for the prize, which offers a $5,000 advance for the best novel or story collection that combines literary and commercial appeal.

Butterfly Winter is “an extraordinary and entertaining blend of baseball yarn, magic realism, and political satire, from a master storyteller” says Maurice Mierau, E & W’s editor. It’s the account of Julio and Esteban Pimental, twins whose divine destiny for baseball includes games of catch in the womb. In his aging years the Wizard, a mysterious figure who travels by hot air balloon and controls events behind the scenes, tells the story of the twins and their family to a skeptical journalist.

Bill Kinsella is best known for his baseball fiction, which includes Thrill of the Grass, The Dixon Cornbelt League, Iowa Baseball Confederacy, If Wishes Were Horses, Magic Time, and the award-winning Shoeless Joe, which became the much-loved movie, Field of Dreams. He is represented by Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency Ltd. (carolyn@swayzeagency.com)

The two finalists also due for publication with Enfield & Wizenty this fall are novelists Nerys Parry with Man and Other Natural Disasters and Sarah Dearing with The Art of Sufficient Conclusions.

Ottawa writer Nerys Parry has delivered “supple and beautiful writing, and a remarkable ability to imagine the life of a protagonist whose birth family we would now describe as terrorists” says Mierau. Nerys is represented by Hilary McMahon of Westwood Creative Artists Ltd.

Toronto’s Sarah Dearing has combined fact and fiction in a complex and tender journey to uncover the secret of her father’s past as a child model for a sexually ambiguous British aristocrat.

As with all E&W titles, the 2011 fall list will be released in limited print-run, hardcover collectible editions.

We would like to congratulate Richard Van Camp on his indepth interview with CBC’s Shelagh Rogers regarding his book of short stories The Moon of Letting Go.   Listen to it HERE

Congratulations to Craig Russell whose wonderful fable Black Bottle Man, the story of a young boy named Rembrandt earned an honourable mention from the Ontario Library Association for their Best Bets for YA 2010.

Enfield & Wizenty editor Maurice Mierau hosted the launch of a new online literary magazine, The Winnipeg Review, last week at McNally Robinson Booksellers. Mierau, along with the rest of the E & W staff, decided it was time to offer up a new site for the review and assessment of Canadian fiction in light of media cutbacks across the country. The site has been live for two weeks and has already garnered 6,000 unique hits, which suggests we are not alone in thinking there is an increasing vacuum in book criticism in the country. Visit us online at thewinnipegreview.com and let us know what you think!

Wonderfully (though not surprisingly) Russ Gourluck’s Mosaic Village has been listed first on McNally Robinson’s 2010 Manitoba Bestsellers list.  Great Plains bookends this non fiction list with the second edition of A Daytripper’s Guide to Manitoba by Bartley Kives at #10.  So Manitobans are exploring our history as well as our province?  Yet another great reason to live here.

CBC Radio’s Ron Robinson has added three Great Plains titles to his Christmas list.  Andy De Jarlis: The Life and Music of an Old-Time Fiddler by Joe Mackintosh is a fine choice for those with an interest in Prairie Metis fiddling music, complete with free sampler cd.  The Mosaic Village by Russ Gourluck also made the cut.  A beautifully illustrated history for those with a taste for the rich culture of Winnipeg’s North End.  Finally Jake MacDonald’s Juliana and the Medicine Fish recognised once again at a perfect time of year to read a classic.  Warm season’s readings from Great Plains Publications.

Richard Cumyn is making a splash in Atlantic Canada with his newest collection of short stories The Young in Their Country.  The “New Brunswick’s Reading” page from the Telegraph Journal and Salty Ink’s “Selected Top-notch Books of 2010″ listed these stories at #4.

Well-known policy wonk Michael Decter flew in from Toronto recently to unveil his new book at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg. Tales from the Back Room is a spicy collection of stories from Decter’s time as a senior government mandarin in Manitoba and Ontario. Despite the first blizzard of the year, more than sixty people showed up to be entertained by Decter’s accounts of meetings with the powerful, the famous and the downright notorious.