Toronto, September 16, 2020 – First Nation Communities READ announces the shortlist for the combined Children’s and Young Adult/Adult categories. Chosen by a jury of Indigenous librarians from across Ontario, these titles represent the best of Indigenous literature from across Turtle Island today. The title selection announcement for FNCR 2020-2021 will take place at Toronto’s Virtual Word on the Street Festival on Sunday, September 27, 2020. The authors of the selected title will be the recipients of the Periodical Marketers of Canada Indigenous Literature Award and will each receive a $3000 cash prize.
Children’s Category Shortlist
- I’m Finding My Talk by Rebecca Thomas. Published by Nimbus Publishing
- When We Had Sled Dogs by Ida Tremblay. Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
- E Meshkwadooniged Mitig/The Trading Tree by Nancy Cooper. Published by Prince’s Trust Canada
- Sus Yoo The Bear’s Medicine by Clayton Gauthier. Published by Theytus Books
- Neekah’s Knitting Needles by Odelia Smith and Sylvia Olsen. Published by Sono Nis Press
Young Adult/Adult Category Shortlist
Crow Winter by Karen McBride. Published by Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.
- Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor. Published by Cormorant Press
- If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie. Published by James Lorimer and Company
- In My Own Moccasins by Helen Knott. Published by University of Regina Press
- A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott. Published by Doubleday Canada
Periodical Marketers of Canada Indigenous Literature Award
The Periodical Marketers of Canada’s Indigenous Literature Award is inspired by the goals of the First Nation Communities READ program. It will provide each of the authors of the First Nation Communities READ 2020-2021 title selections with a $3,000 prize. This is the seventh year the Periodical Marketers of Canada has presented the Indigenous Literature Award.
First Nation Communities READ is the Ontario First Nation Public Library Community’s contribution to the popular reading movement. Launched in 2003 by the First Nations Public Library Community in Ontario with support from Southern Ontario Library Service, it promotes a community-based approach to reading, FNCR:
- encourages family literacy, intergenerational storytelling, and intergenerational information sharing;
- increases awareness of the relevance and importance of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit writing, illustration, and publishing;
- promotes the publication, sharing, and understanding of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit voices and experiences;
- increases awareness and sales of the titles it honours.
Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) is mandated to deliver programs and services on behalf of the Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport by:
- increasing cooperation and coordination among public library boards and other information providers to promote the provision of library service to the public;
- assisting public library boards by providing them with services and programs that reflect their needs, including consultation, training and development.
For more information about First Nation Communities READ and Southern Ontario Library Service, contact:
Nancy Cooper, First Nations Consultant
Telephone 647-264-7342
Southern Ontario Library Service
E-mail: ncooper@sols.org
Periodical Marketers of Canada is the national association of magazine and book wholesalers serving thousands of retail newsstands across Canada. Periodical Marketers of Canada was established under a federal charter in 1942 for the purpose of furthering the wholesale periodical distribution industry and contributing to the encouragement of reading in Canada.
PMC’s ongoing activities have included funding of a non-profit charitable foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters, which has contributed to individuals and agencies engaged in the encouragement of literacy and reading in Canada.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for this project.
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