Twenty-five books. Four provinces. One festival.

It all begins today. Find the shortlist for all ten categories of the 2007 Atlantic Book Awards below or visit www.writers.ns.ca/bookfest07. Once you’re there, get detailed author biographies and descriptions of the nominated titles. Check to see which of Atlantic Canada’s leading authors are coming to your community for a reading or special event.

Readers will spend an evening in Saint John with three poets (is there better company?): PEI native Steve McOrmond, Mary Dalton from St. John’s and Nova Scotian Pete Sanger. Veteran Canadian painter Bruno Bobak and Beaverbrook Art Gallery director Bernard Riordan come to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. Ami McKay, author of The Birth House, visits St. John’s for the first time and fellow novelist Maureen Hull gives a reading and workshop in Charlottetown.

The week is booked solid with events all over the region. The Atlantic Book Awards ceremony takes place at Pier 21 in Halifax, 1055 Marginal Road, Friday May 11, 4pm.

Here are the nominees:

Atlantic Poetry Prize

Steve McOrmond, Primer on the Hereafter, Wolsak & Wynn

Peter Sanger, Aiken Drum, Gaspereau Press

Mary Dalton, Red Ledger, Véhicule Press

Best Atlantic Published Book

Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette, edited by Bernard Riordon, Goose Lane Editions

East Coast Rug-Hooking Designs: New Patterns from an Old Tradition, Deanne Fitzpatrick, Nimbus Publishing

Ganong: A Sweet History of Chocolate, David Folster, Goose Lane Editions

Booksellers’ Choice Award

Wayne Johnston, The Custodian of Paradise, Knopf

Ami McKay, The Birth House, Knopf

David Adams Richards, The Friends of Meager Fortune, Doubleday

Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Prize

Budge Wilson, Friendships, Penguin

Janet McNaughton, The Raintree Rebellion, HarperCollins Canada

Darlene Ryan, Saving Grace, Orca Book Publishers

Dartmouth Book Award Fiction

Maureen Hull, The View from a Kite, Vagrant Press

Stephen Kimber, Reparations, HarperCollins

Linda Little, Scotch River, Penguin

Dartmouth Book Award Non-Fiction

Keith McLaren, A Race for Real Sailors, Douglas & McIntyre

Linden MacIntyre, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, HarperCollins

M. Brook Taylor, A Camera on the Banks: Frederick William Wallace and the Fishermen of Nova Scotia, Goose Lane Editions

Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize

Wayne Johnston, The Custodian of Paradise, Knopf

Linda Little, Scotch River, Penguin

Ami McKay, The Birth House, Knopf

Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction

Marq de Villiers, Windswept, McClelland & Stewart

Linden MacIntyre, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, HarperCollins

Natalie MacLean, Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass, Doubleday

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award

John G. Langley, Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard, Nimbus

Elaine McCluskey, The Watermelon Social, Gaspereau Press

M. Brook Taylor, A Camera on the Banks: Frederick William Wallace and the Fishermen of Nova Scotia, Goose Lane Editions

Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Illustration

Ron Lightburn (Sharon Jennings, author), The Happily Ever Afternoon, Annick Press

Brenda Jones (Lesley Choyce, author), Skunks for Breakfast, Nimbus Publishing

Odell Archibald (Janet Skirving, author), P is for Puffin, Sleeping Bear Press

2007 Atlantic Book Festival and Awards

1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4P7 Telephone: (902) 422 8116 Fax (902) 422-0881

Email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Website: www.writers.ns.ca/bookfest07