Here are the winners of the 2024 National Book Awards…

By Literary Hub

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November 20, 2024, 9:57pm

After a long ceremony and lots of wonderful speeches about books, presenting the winners of the 2024 National Book Awards:

YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE:

Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Kareem Between
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House

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TRANSLATED LITERATURE:

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, Taiwan Travelogue
Translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin King
Graywolf Press

You can read an excerpt from the book here.

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POETRY:

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Something About Living
University of Akron Press

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NONFICTION:

Jason De León, Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
Viking Books / Penguin Random House

You can read an interview with De León here.

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FICTION:

Percival Everett, James
Doubleday / Penguin Random House

You can read more about Percival Everett here.

Here are all the winners of the 2024 Canadian Writers’ Trust literary prizes.

By Brittany Allen

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November 20, 2024, 2:29pm

Yesterday in Toronto, the Writers’ Trust of Canada recognized the country’s best books and authors with the distribution of seven annually-given prizes.

For his second novel, Batshit Seven, the novelist Sheung-King received the highly coveted Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction prize. The $60,000 award recognizes the year’s best novel or story collection. Following a “lackluster, hungover ESL teacher” who observes a conflict-torn Hong Kong, Batshit Seven taps into a collective Millennial anhedonia, familiar to all subjects of empire.

On the nonfiction end, jurors recognized the essayist Martha Baillie with the $75,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award. Baillie’s award-winning memoir, There is No Blue, is an elegiac collection of three pieces on loss.

The third book prize presented was the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for 2SLGBTQ+ emerging writers. Anthony Oliveira, a Toronto-based author and critic, took home $12,000 for Dayspring, a “bold reimagining of biblical tales that weaves together stories of passion, grief and destruction.”

The four finalists for the Atwood Gibson will also each receive $5,000, because Canada stays so nice.

Recognized books and authors include Éric Chacour, for his heartbreaking Egypt-set 1960s epic, What I Know About You, translated by Pablo Strauss; Conor Kerr for his mis-adventurous tale of bison run amok, Prairie Edge; Canisia Lubrin for her genre-bending debut collection, Code Noir, and Fawn Parker for Hi, It’s Me—a provocative look at grief.

In addition to book-specific prizes, four other authors won career awards. For a lifetime of distinguished work in several disciplines, the multidisciplinary writer/producer Marie Clements received the $40,000 Matt Cohen Award.

Author Madeleine Thien took home the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award, given to mid-career fiction writers.

Rita Wong received the $60,000 Latner Griffin Award, given to a mid-career Canadian poet.

And Sara O’Leary was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, a $25,000 prize.

Congratulations to all the winners! Now, go read some Canadian literature!

Image via

Texas public school students could soon be tested on the Bible.

By Brittany Allen

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November 20, 2024, 1:24pm

In bummer news for all fans of the separation of church and state, this Tuesday Texas lawmakers “signaled their support” for a new public school curriculum that will include lessons from—wait for it—the actual bible. 

The state-commissioned syllabi, dubbed “Bluebonnet Learning,” is aimed at K-5 elementary school students. Lesson plans are holistic, designed to combine history (well…), language arts, and reading comprehension. The program was submitted for public review this summer. And as the Texas Tribune reported, many since have noted the curriculum’s heavy Christian bias.

Parents, educators, scholars, and other concerned citizens tasked to review the materials noted consistent allusions to Christianity, and also “questioned the accuracy of some lessons.” You can read some of those lessons and the civilian quibbles right here, thanks to a state-prepared report.

As of this writing, Bluebonnet has accepted certain public-suggested revisions. Objections to a lesson plan asking students to “Point out Jericho and Jerusalem” on a “map of Israel,” for instance, was revised to include Palestine. Another lesson that instructed teachers to “tell students that many of the Founding Fathers, like Washington and Jefferson, realized that slavery was wrong” has been addressed. But other semantic concerns have been rejected.

In one such case, a reviewer flagged a lesson plan that “repeatedly refers to Jewish characters as ‘Israelites,'” and noted the “anachronistic use of the term.” But the old word was allowed to stand.

Elsewhere, a reviewer flagged an erroneous distinction between “the Bible” and “the Jewish Torah” in a lesson that begins with…the Book of Genesis. 

All objections to the inclusion of religious content in general have been rejected on the grounds of a Texas precedent that forces public schools to include information on “religious literature.” Which the section basically defines as “the Hebrew Scriptures (Old testament) and New Testament.”

Publishers used this precedent to reject general concerns. As when several reviewers noted that two out of ten lessons in a unit called “Parental Rights and Responsibilities” were Bible-based. Or when dozens of others expressed concern for references to our “Biblical origins.” This is particularly bad faith (ha) in light of the curriculum’s diminished presentation of other world religions. Kindergarten lessons on the Golden Rule and the Good Samaritan, for instance, have managed to situate kindness as a specifically Christian phenomenon.

You’d also be right to guess that the Bluebonnet curriculum goes pretty soft on the “Founding Fathers.” A public comment asking an early America unit to include the fact that “colonists did not treat the Native Americans well” was rejected flatly. And elsewhere, the pilgrims’ benevolence was emphasized while the effects of chattel slavery were, um. Downplayed.

As the Tribune reported, “The state will have until late Wednesday to submit revisions in response to concerns raised by board members and the general public before the official vote takes place Friday.”

Public comments are also welcome until that time.

Richard Flanagan wins the Baillie Gifford Prize, but won’t accept money without a plan to divest.

By James Folta

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November 19, 2024, 5:15pm

Out of an impressive shortlist, Richard Flanagan’s Question 7 has won 2024’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Flanagan’s wide-ranging memoir and history weaves together H.G. Wells and Rebecca West’s affair, pre-war nuclear physics, his father’s imprisonment near Hiroshima when the American atom bomb falls, and Flanagan’s own life-or-death experience on a raging river, and more. You can read an excerpt of the book, in which Flanagan visits the spot where his father was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp, here.

Isabel Hilton, who chaired this year’s panel of judges, says of the winner:

Question 7 is an astonishingly accomplished meditation on memory, history, trauma, love and death—and an intricately woven exploration of the chains of consequence that frame a life.

In a year rich in remarkable books, Richard Flanagan’s Question 7 spoke to the judges for its outstanding literary qualities and its profound humanity. This compelling memoir ranges from intimate human relations to an unflinching examination of the horrors of the 20th century, reflecting on unanswerable questions that we must keep asking.

Flanagan, however, has rejected the £50,000 prize until the fund manager reduces its fossil fuel investments. He said he would welcome an opportunity to speak with Baillie Gifford’s board, to thank them and to “describe how fossil fuels are destroying our country,” reported The Guardian.

In a pre-recorded message, Flanagan thanked the firm and the Prize for what they do for literature, and then went on:

Yet my soul would be troubled if I did not say that the very rainforests and heathlands in which I am camped tonight, unique in the world, are existentially threatened by the climate crisis, and were I not to speak of the terrifying impact fossil fuels are having on my island home that same vanishing world that spurred me to write Question 7, I would be untrue to the spirit of my book.

So, becoming the beneficiary of Baillie Gifford’s generosity, it behooves me to give something in return to Baillie Gifford, something perhaps more valuable than money, a perspective that may otherwise be absent from their executive discussions. The world is complex, these matters difficult. None of us are clean. All of us are complicit. Major booksellers that sell my books are owned by oil companies, major publishers that publish my friends are owned by fascists and authoritarians. No one tonight should regard my words as criticism of Baillie Gifford, but its opposite. It is belief in Baillie Gifford’s good faith and the seeking of a way forward.

When we stumble, when we weary, it sometimes helps to have a friend to urge us on to our destination. I would welcome an opportunity to speak with Baillie Gifford’s board, both to thank them for their generosity and also to describe how fossil fuels are destroying my country. How, as each of us is guilty, each of us two bears a responsibility to act. A writer, a fund manager. I would urge Baillie Gifford to act on its own publicly stated conviction that it sees no future in hydrocarbons by sharing with the public a plan to reduce its already minimal direct investment in fossil fuel extraction and increase its investments in renewables.

In accepting this prize and the prize money that goes with it, I have a small caveat. I will delay taking receipt of the money until the day that plan is announced. And on that day, I will be grateful not only for this generous gift, but for the knowledge that by coming together in good faith, with respect and goodwill, it remains possible yet to make this world better.

Question 7 is about hope, how we must seize the day if we are to live. I thank you for the prize and the great honor that goes with it in the same spirit.

The book world’s most bloodstained award was handed out in Toronto last night.

By Dan Sheehan

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November 19, 2024, 1:15pm

The gala for the Giller Prize—formally Canada’s most prestigious literary award, now synonymous with artwashing genocide and apartheid—took place at Toronto’s Park Hyatt hotel last night.

Anne Michaels received the 2024 prize for her novel Held. Michaels is a poet and author who has previously won the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Trillium Book Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Before taking home this year’s prize, she was shortlisted for the Giller Prize twice: in 1996 for Fugitive Pieces and in 2009 for The Winter Vault.

In her somewhat baffling acceptance speech, Michaels didn’t mention Palestine or the boycott or the writers killed in Gaza, but did declare that she was “standing here tonight in solidarity with Canadian publishers and booksellers.”

The event—which, incredibly, began with a land acknowledgment—went ahead despite over 200 Canadian authors having refused to submit their books for Giller Prize consideration or participate in any Giller-related publicity until the Foundation “drops its partnerships with corporate sponsors complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.” [Scotiabank, Indigo Books, and the Azrieli Foundation are the sponsors in question. The allegations against them are detailed at the close of this piece.]

Outside the gala, dozens of authors and book workers formed a picket line and staged a “Boycott Giller” counter gala, while across Canada, a series of simultaneous events were held to centre Palestinian liberation and the writers who have committed to boycotting the Giller Foundation.

While the Giller Prize cancelled its 2024 “Between the Pages” tour, which typically features readings across Canada highlighting its shortlist, writers working with No Arms in the Arts and CanLit Responds organized their own tour, in solidarity with authors who withdrew their work from the 2024, those who have committed to boycotting future Giller events, and Palestinian writers. Writers gathered in Fredericton, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, and Vancouver to stage their “No Arms in the Arts” Tour, many reading the work of Palestinian authors, as well as their own poetry of resistance and liberation.

As the activist group CanLit Responds detailed in a press release sent yesterday, this counter programming was just the latest in a series of actions that date back to last year’s disrupted Giller Prize ceremony:

Last year’s award’s ceremony saw disruptors take the stage during a live broadcast in protest of Scotiabank. Three arrests were made that night, and as confirmed by reporting in The Walrus, it was Giller organizers themselves who lobbied police to criminally charge the demonstrators. Two more arrests have been made in the year since, including one that occurred as late as September.

In response, 2000+ authors wrote a letter of solidarity with the protestors under the banner of Canlit Responds calling for the charges against them to be dropped. In Spring, Canlit Responds joined other culture sector groups under the No Arms in the Arts campaign, using Scotiababank’s sponsorships of art institutions like Hot Docs and the CONTACT Photography Festival to target the bank’s Elbit stake.

After months of silence from the Giller Foundation, an organized boycott of the Giller Prize was launched. On July 10, 2024, authors with 2024-eligible books withdrew their works from prize consideration until the Prize dropped its ties to Scotiabank, Indigo, and the Azrieli Foundation. Other past Giller nominees and winners joined them on the picket line, pledging not to participate in Giller publicity or events until demands were met. Over 40+ authors signed. On July 11, Giller organizers released their first fulsome response to the Canlit community around Scotiabank, which was to double down on their commitment to the partnership.

Last month, that boycott was extended beyond the 2024 Giller prize season, and will continue for as long as the Giller retains these sponsors. Over 300 authors and book workers have since pledged not to participate in Giller programming, publicize Giller events, or submit their books for the Giller Prize.

Where the Giller Prize goes from here is anyone’s guess. The damage done by this protracted debacle seems incalculable, and unlikely to be repaired any time soon. The Canadian book scene has been roiled by scandals over the past year, with some of its most beloved authors and institutions suffering high-profile falls from grace.

Perhaps it’s time to reimagine the literary landscape up North.

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In yesterday’s press release, CanLit Responds also provided a detailed breakdown of the Giller sponsors’ ties to both the Israeli military and the Israeli real estate sector:

Scotiabank, the Giller’s lead sponsor. Scotiabank retains a significant stake in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems produces 85% of the Israeli military’s drones, and 85% of its land based equipment, and has been historically linked to internationally-banned white phosphorus and cluster bombs. Scotiabank began the year as Elbit’s largest foreign shareholder, but No Arms in the Arts and Canlit Responds have contributed to a nationwide pressure campaign that has resulted in Scotiabank cutting that stake by $400 million. Elbit Systems’ own CEO credited the bank’s divestment to this political pressure. Scotiabank still remains substantially invested in Elbit, and retains a stake of roughly $112 million.

Indigo Books. Gerald Schwartz and Indigo CEO Heather Reisman, who both recently took the book chain private, are also the founders and sole major contributor to the HESEG Foundation. HESEG – founded in 2005 as “The HESEG Foundation For Lone Soldiers” – provides financial subsidies for non-Israeli citizens serving in the Israeli military. This means Indigo profits fund tax-subsidized support for a military currently carrying out mass death and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. It also does so in defiance of Canadian charity law, which forbids registered charities from financially supporting foreign militaries. When an Indigo storefront was flyered with posters objecting to the company’s ties to HESEG, Toronto Police took the drastic measure of arresting 11 suspects with violent, no-knock, early morning raids – revealed to be prompted by a personal call from Heather Reisman herself to the chief of police.

The Azrieli Foundation. The Azrieli Foundation is the charitable counterpart to Israeli real estate company The Azrieli Group, which has had past and present investments in West Bank settlements deemed illegal under international law. This includes their previous ownership of the Sonol gas station chain, which operated on illegal settlements, and their current stake in Bank Leumi, which does business on and funds infrastructure for illegal settlement projects. Leumi also recently froze the bank account of UNWRA, contributing to the suspension of relief funds to Palestinian refugees.