A Novel Approach (To Me)

The Trillium Award shortlist has been announced and it’s no surprise to see Emma Donohue’s name on the list for her novel ROOM that has garnered much praise this year. Michael Winter is on the list for his book THE DEATH OF DONNA WHALEN, which he describes as “documentary fiction”. Both books were also nominated for the Roger’s Writer’s Trust prize, which Donohue took home.

They share the shortlist for the $20,000 prize with:

Donoghue and Winter face four rivals for the English language version of this fiction prize, worth $20,000:

* What Disturbs Our Blood, by James FitzGerald.
* The Amazing Absorbing Boy, by Rabindranath Maharaj.
* Book, by Ken Sparling.
* The Reinvention of the Human Hand, by Paul Vermeersch.

Here’s a charming video of Emma talking about ROOM:

In the spirit of competition, here’s a video of Michael talking about the writing process. It does appear that the Winter children are having a very good literary year (his sister Kathleen was nominated for the Giller Prize for her book Annabel). I love his commentary about dialogue and his comments on why we write.  I have to say though, the camoflauge jacket and background scenery are distracting. LOL!