The Canadian Authors Association is pleased to announce the CAA Literary Awards shortlists for 2014. Introduced in 1975, these awards continue the association's long tradition of honouring Canadian writers who achieve excellence without sacrificing popular appeal. The twelve finalists were selected from almost 300 nominations.

The 2014 CAA Literary Awards shortlists are as follows:

CAA Award for Fiction

•  Joseph Boyden, New Orleans, Louisiana, for The Orenda (Penguin Group Canada)   

•  Anthony De Sa, Toronto, Ontario, for Kicking the Sky (Doubleday Canada)  

• Claire Mulligan, Victoria, British Columbia, for The Dark (Doubleday Canada)   

Lela Common Award for Canadian History

•  Charlotte Gray, Ottawa, Ontario, for The Massey Murder (HarperCollins Canada)      

•  Ruth Holmes Whitehead, Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Black Loyalists: Southern Settlers of Nova Scotia's First Free Black Communities (Nimbus Publishing)   

•  David O'Keefe, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, for One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada's Tragedy at Dieppe (Knopf Canada)  

CAA Award for Poetry

•  Catherine Graham, Toronto, Ontario, for Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects (Wolsak and Wynn Publishers)      

• Rene� Sarojini Saklikar, New Westminster, British Columbia, for children of air india (Nightwood Editions) 

• Tom Wayman, Winlaw, British Columbia, for Winter Skin (Oolichan Books)  

CAA Emerging Writer Award

• Kim Fu, Seattle, Washington, For Today I Am a Boy (HarperCollins Canada)

• Michael Hingston, Edmonton, Alberta, The Dilettantes (Freehand Books)

• Grace O'Connell, Toronto, Ontario, Magnified World (Knoph Canada)

The shortlisted authors have been invited to participate in evening readings on Friday, June 20, at the Lakehead University Orillia Campus. Free and open to the public, these readings are part of the Canadian Authors' CanWrite! 2014 conference.

The final winners for each category will be announced the following evening, June 21, at the Canadian Authors Literary Awards Banquet & Gala at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn & Conference Centre, a highlight of this year's CanWrite! conference.

Also open to the public, the Banquet & Gala will feature Susan McClelland and Mariatu Kamara (The Bite of the Mango; Annick Press) as special guest speakers, and Terry Fallis (No Relation, Up and Down, The High Road, The Best Laid Plans) as Master of Ceremony.  

A limited number of tickets for the dinner and awards banquet are available ($60 or two for $100). A portion of all ticket sales will go to Beautiful World, an organization that sponsors students, specifically girls, by providing them with scholarships through secondary school education. These donations profoundly impact lives by funding, supporting and encouraging education for children in the developing world.  

To purchase tickets and RSVP, contact Courtney at 1 888 216 6222 or  [email protected]. 

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MEDIA CONTACT

Anita Purcell

Executive Director

Canadian Authors Association

Cell 705 955 0716

T 705 325 3926 ext. 202

TF 866 216 6222 ext. 202

E  [email protected]