Two translated titles among finalists for $60,000 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

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Two French-to-English translations are among the titles in the running for a $60,000 fiction prize from the Writers’ Trust of Canada.

Organizers revealed the five-book shortlist on Wednesday for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. The winner will be announced at an in-person ceremony in Toronto on Nov. 2.

Finalists include Donald Winkler’s translation of “Querelle of Roberval” by Kevin Lambert. Published by Biblioasis, the Quebec-set social drama about sexual and labour politics pays homage to French writer Jean Genet’s transgressive 1947 novel, “Querelle of Brest.”

Also nominated is Montreal journalist Rima Elkouri’s debut novel “Manam,” translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott. The book, published by Mawenzi House, follows a teacher who travels to Turkey to learn about how her family survived the Armenian genocide.

Rounding out the shortlist are: author Nicholas Herring, from Murray Harbour, P.E.I., with “Some Hellish,” a tale of a lobster fisherman published by Goose Lane Editions;Alberta author Darcy Tamayose’s “Ezra’s Ghosts,” a book of short stories about the denizens of a prairie town, from NeWest Press; and Toronto writer and lawyer Saeed Teebi’s “Her First Palestinian,” a collection of stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada wrestling with identity, published by House of Anansi Press.

Each finalist receives $5,000. For translated works, 75 per cent of the prize money goes to the original author, and the remaining 25 per cent is given to the translator.

Organizers say the shortlist was selected from 132 titles submitted by 70 publishers. Sitting on this year’s jury are Canadian fiction writers David Bergen, Norma Dunning and Andrew Forbes.

Named after Writers’ Trust co-founders Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson, the fiction prize recognizes the best novel or short story collection published in Canada each year.