Finalists For George Ryga Award

Written by 107.5 Kiss FM Tuesday, 11 August 2009 12:01

There's a long list of nominees for the seventh-annual George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature.

The top 10 books submitted for the award, (in alphabetical order according to the writer's surname), are:

Hope in the Shadows, Brad Cran & Gillian Jerome (Arsenal Pulp Press)

A Slice of Voice At the Edge of Hearing, Brian Dedora, (Mercury)

Guantanamo North, Robert Diab (Fernwood Publishing)

Silent Girl, Tricia Dower (Innanna Publications)

The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway, (Vintage Canada)

The Truth About Canada, Mel Hurtig (McLelland & Stewart)

In The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts, Gabor Mate, M.D. (Vintage Canada)

Five Ring Circus, Christopher Shaw (New Society Publishers)

Reena, Manjit Virk (Heritage House)

What is America?, Ronald Wright (Alfred A. Knopf Canada).

"It's a stunning field of books," said John Lent, Regional Dean of Okanagan College, "in a year that provided the most books from publishers that we've ever had. It wasn't easy to get to these final 10, but I know we will find another incredible winner."

Last year's winner was Leilah Nadir's book, The Orange Trees of Baghdad (Key Porter Books).

The long-list will collapse into a short-list of three books that will be announced officially by Sept. 1, 2009.

At that point a national judge will choose the winner, and that winner will be announced in Vernon at Okanagan College, at a gala celebration of the Ryga Award on Saturday, Nov. 7.

George Ryga Week, proclaimed by the Provincial Government and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, will run from Nov. 1 - 7.

Ryga (pictured at top) was a Canadian playwright and novelist.

He died in Summerland in 1987 at age 55.

His home has been turned into the George Ryga Center, an arts and culture centre.