Register to attend
“The gift of time and peace of mind,” are the pillars the $25,000 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award were built on when it was established in 1991 by Thomas Raddall Jr. to honour his famous father.
Completely funded by the Raddall family, the award is credited with growing and enriching an entire generation of Atlantic Canadian literature. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the award and recognize this significant contribution by the Raddall family — who over the past 30 years has increased the size of the award from $5,000 to the $25,000 prize it is today — some past award winners will gather for an event on September 23 to talk about the impact the award has had on their lives and their writing. Each author will also read a passage from a favourite winning book. Host of the event Alexander MacLeod calls it a “literary conga line.”
Starting things off will be Anne Simpson, the 2021 winner, who will read from 2008 winner Ragged Islands by Don Hannah; who in turn will read from 1993 winner The Afterlife of George Cartwright by John Steffler; who in turn will read from 2000 winner No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod. Alistair MacLeod’s son Alexander, a distinguished writer himself, will read from 2019 winner Something for Everyone by Lisa Moore; who in turn will read from 2007 winner Scotch River by Linda Little; who in turn will read from 2020 winner The Innocents by Michael Crummey; who will close the circle by reading from Simpson’s winning 2021 novel, Speechless.
The event will take place on Zoom on Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. (AST). All those who register to attend will be entered to win a basket of books by the featured authors. This prize has been generously donated by Bookmark Halifax.
The 30th Anniversary Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award event is co-presented by the Dalhousie Libraries, who holds the copyright to Raddall’s works, and the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, who administers the Raddall award.