Shortlist Titles

• The Diamond Willow Walking Stick: A Traditional Métis Story about Generosity written and illustrated by Leah Marie Dorion. Michif translation by Norman Fleury. Gabriel Dumont Institute.
• Little Chief and the Gifts of Morning Star written by Victor Lethbridge and illustrated by Ben Crane. Tatanka Productions.
• Moccasin Creek written and illustrated by Rene Andre Meshake. Self published.
• Raven Brings the Light written by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, and illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers. Harbour Publishing.
• Wild Berries and Pakwa Che Menisu (Wild Berries) written and illustrated by Julie Flett. Cree dialect translations by Earl N. Cook. Simply Read Books.

First Nation Communities Read initially considered more than 40 submissions before settling on a long list of 31 titles from 17 publishers.

Periodical Marketers of Canada Aboriginal Literature Award.
The Periodical Marketers of Canada’s Aboriginal Literature Award is a new award inspired by the goals of the First Nation Communities Read program. It will provide the creators of the First Nation Communities Read 2014-2015 title selection with a $5,000 prize. This is the first time the Periodical Marketers of Canada will present the Aboriginal Literature Award.

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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.

The focus of the First Nation Communities Read program alternates annually between books for children and books for adults and young adults. The 2014-2015 First Nation Communities Read submissions call was for books for children. The 2013-2014 selection was Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese and published by Douglas & McIntyre (Vancouver).

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 in order 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:
Patty Lawlor, First Nations Consultant
Southern Ontario Library Service
416-961-1669, Ext. 5108
plawlor@sols.org

Periodical Marketers of Canada is the national association of magazine and book wholesalers serving 35,000 retail newsstands. Periodical Marketers of Canada was established under federal charter in 1942 for the purpose of furthering the wholesale periodical distribution industry and contributing to the encouragement of reading in Canada. Current members of the association are: Central News, Thunder Bay, ON; Sudbury News, Sudbury, ON; Monahan Agency, Vernon, BC; Metro News, Toronto, ON; TNG, Burlington, ON.

PMC’s ongoing activities include funding of a nonprofit charitable foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters, which makes contributions to individuals and agencies engaged in the encouragement of literacy and reading in Canada.

For more information about Periodical Marketers of Canada, contact:
Periodical Marketers of Canada
Suite 1007, 175 Bloor St E.
South Tower
Toronto, ON M4W 3R8
p: 416-778-6845
f: 416-968-6281
rargyle@periodical.ca

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for this project.