Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson’s nonfiction work Valley of the Birdtail won two prizes at the 2023 Quebec Writers’ Foundation (QWF) literary awards.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the annual awards, which recognize writers in seven categories: first book, spoken word, children’s and young adult literature, non-fiction, poetry, translation and fiction.

Valley of the Birdtail, the tale of two neighbouring communities in western Manitoba, won both the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Nonfiction. 

In the mostly white town of Rossburn, family income is near the national average and roughly a third of the population has graduated from college or university. Across the river in the Indigenous community of Waywayseecappo, family income is far below the national average and less than a third of the residents have graduated from high school. 

Valley of the Birdtail charts the trials and triumphs of these neighbouring communities through the lives of two residents and their families. The book is on CBC Books’ list of the best nonfiction of 2022.

“This book should be in university classrooms and on coffee tables, in book clubs and politicians’ offices,” wrote first book prize jury members Alan Bourassa, Molly Swain and Helen Humphreys in a statement. 

“Its clarion call is that our histories — Indigenous and settler — are inextricably intertwined, and that building a more equitable future requires that we look unblinkingly at how past relations shape present realities.”

Sanderson, whose Cree name is Amo Binashii, is a Toronto-based lawyer and associate law professor. He is a member of the Beaver clan from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Sniderman is a New York-based lawyer, writer and Rhodes Scholar from Montreal. 

Ann-Marie MacDonald won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. She is honoured for Fayne, a novel about a young woman, Charlotte Bell, growing up in 19th century Britain.

She lives at Fayne House, a vast and lonely estate straddling the border between England and Scotland. Charlotte has been kept from the world by her adoring father, Lord Henry Bell, owing to a mysterious condition.

This idyllic existence is shadowed by the magnificent portrait on the landing in Fayne which depicts Charlotte’s long-deceased mother and brother. But when a mysterious artifact is found, Charlotte’s passion for knowledge and adventure will take her to the bottom of family secrets — and to the heart of her own identity. 

“MacDonald masterfully combines elements of science, magic, and gothic intrigue to construct a world that is as beguiling as it is treacherous,” wrote jurors Joe Ollmann, Chanel Sutherland and Timothy Taylor.

“With over 700 pages, Fayne may appear daunting, but MacDonald’s storytelling prowess ensures that each page is a captivating revelation.”

MacDonald, born in Germany, now lives between Toronto and Montreal. She’s the author of several bestselling novels. In addition to writing, she was the host of CBC’s Doc Zone for eight years.

In 1996, MacDonald released her debut novel Fall on Your Knees and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. The book won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best first book and it was a finalist for Canada Reads in 2010, defended by Perdita Felicien. 

Her second novel The Way the Crow Flies, another Giller Prize finalist, was published in 2003.

Edeet Ravel was awarded the Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature for her novel A Boy is Not a Ghost, which follows the story of twelve-year-old Natt who, after being deported from his Eastern European home, finds himself stranded in a schoolyard in Novosibirsk. 

“While the content is understandably heavy, the way it is presented is age appropriate and sensitive to both the story and the young reader, which depicts great command and artistry of the writing craft,” wrote jurors Danielle Daniel, Pamela Mordecai, and Hannah Morrow in a statement. 

A Boy is Not a Ghost was also a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature — text. 

Ravel is a novelist born in Israel and raised in Montreal. She is also the author of the novel A Wall of Light, which was a finalist for the 2005 Giller Prize.

Erin Robinsong won the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry for Wet Dream and Katia Grubisic won the Cole Foundation Prize for Translation for To See Out the Night.

The winners of the Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize were Michael “BeWyrd” Clarke for Survival Mechanisms, Caitlin Murphy for All the Screams and Deb Vanslet for Laughter in the Rain.

Elise Moser won the QWF Judy Mappin Community Award for her contribution and dedication to literary arts in Quebec. H Felix Chau Bradley was awarded the carte blanche Prize for Three Disorientations and Katherine Li of Marianopolis College took home the QWF College Writers Award for her piece Effloresce.