Yeah, that's me beside the first Prime Minister of Canada. I think we're both hung over in those pics.

from the press peeps:

“Grant Lawrence’s Adventures in Solitude Nominated for Canada’s Largest
Nonfiction Prize

Last night, CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence handed out the 6th annual Polaris
Music Prize to the Arcade Fire. This morning, through a hung over haze, Grant
woke up to find himself on a shortlist. Adventures in Solitude has been
nominated for the prestigious Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize for
Nonfiction, the largest nonfiction prize in Canada.

Grant Lawrence, a Vancouver based broadcaster and author, was among five
authors announced for the Shortlist this morning at Toronto’s Telus Centre
for Performance and Learning. Other authors on the list include Charles
Foran, Charlotte Gill, Richard Gywn and Ray Robertson.

The grand prize is $60,000, making it the single richest annual nonfiction
prize in Canada. The winner will be announced during an event and after-party
on October 25, 2011 at Koerner Hall in Toronto.

“I’m shocked”, Grant Lawrence said Tuesday morning in Toronto. “It’s a great
honour to be nominated for such a prize, and it’s something that completely
caught me by surprise. I’m extremely flattered that my grubby stories from
beyond the end of the road has been recognized this way”.

The Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize is awarded for literary excellence in
the category of nonfiction, which includes, among other forms, works of
personal or journalistic essays; memoirs; commentary; and criticism, both
social and political; history; and biography. Finalists have demonstrated a
distinctive voice, and a persuasive and compelling command of tone,
narrative, style, and technique.

Adventures in Solitude was released on Harbour
Publishing, and has since become a national bestseller, hitting #1 on the BC
Bestseller list for over 20 weeks. The book is about Grant’s summers spent at
his cabin in Desolation Sound, located on the wild west coast of Canada,
where the characters are just as wild as the weather. Adventures in Solitude
is Grant Lawrence’s first book.”

Edna Staebler (1906 - 2006)

UPDATE: 2011/09/07: Congratulations to Helen Waldstein Wilkes Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery for winning the 2011 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. A bummer to lose but an honour to be nominated. Helen’s book sounds fascinating and I look forward to tracking it down. -GL

From Harbour Publishing:

“Adventures in Solitude by Grant Lawrence is one of three Canadian books shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. Worth $10,000, the award is open to books of creative non-fiction published in the previous calendar year. To qualify, an entry:

• must be the writer’s first or second published book of any type or genre,
• must have a Canadian locale and/or significance,
• should be distinguished by first-hand research, well-crafted interpretive writing, the writer’s personal discovery or experience, and creative use of language or approach to the subject matter.

Previous winners are not eligible, and the judges reserve the right to grant or withhold the award in any year. Previous winners include Charlotte Gray, Wayson Choy and Elizabeth Hay. The winner will be announced on September 7, 2011.”

The Edna Staebler Award is administered by Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, and the award will be presented at a special centennial ceremony Oct. 4, 2011, in Waterloo, with author readings planned for the Brantford campus and Toronto office. The award is designed to encourage new Canadian talent, and is open to authors who have published a first or second book.

The other two books nominated are Jew and Improved by Benjamin Errett and Letters from the Lost by Helen Waldstein Wilkes.