news | Friday August 13, 2010

8th Annual George Ryga Award Shortlist Announced

The George Ryga Centre, BC BookWorld, CBC Radio One and Okanagan College are proud to announce the Shortlist for this year’s 8th Annual George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in BC writing and publishing. The top three books submitted for the award are: God Of Missed Connections by Elizabeth Bachinsky (Nightwood Editions); A Thousand Dreams by Larry Campbell, Neil Boyd & Lori Culbert (Greystone), and Where The Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring (Talonbooks).

“Once again, we received a a large field of well-written submissions this year,” said John Lent of Okanagan College. “It’s maybe a sign of these times that this award draws such strength from the writing community, so many strong responses. If anyone ever thought writers weren’t engaging in the issues of our times, the books submitted for this award would convince them otherwise. In the end, these three books—a piece of non-fiction, a book of poems and a play—were the books that kept insisting themselves forward.”

This year’s winner will be announced in the Lecture Theatre of Okanagan College’s KLO Campus in Kelowna at a gala celebration of The Ryga Award on Saturday, November 6th, the last day of George Ryga Week. Excerpts from Bachinsky, Campbell and Loring’s works will be broadcast on CBC Radio One before the final winner is announced.