And now the days get longer

Dianne Warren receives inaugural Glengarry Book Award

Congratulations to Dianne Warren on receiving the very first Glengarry Book Award, sponsored by the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts. Dianne’s no stranger to literary awards; she recently picked up the City of Regina Book Award category in the 2021 Saskatchewan Book Awards, and there are many more! I’m looking forward to reading The Diamond House. Huge appreciation to the Foundation for offering this award and to Claire Kramer for making it happen. Recognition like this and other awards like the SBA are so important for boosting the writing careers of newbie authors and are such an affirmation for established ones.

I was honoured to have my novel, Small Reckonings, along with If Sylvie Had Nine Lives (Leona Theis) and Vermin: Short Stories (Lori Hahnel), mentioned by the national jury panel as worthy of recognition. Exciting to be an asterisk on Dianne’s kite tail! Officially, that asterisk is called the 2021 Glengarry Book Award Jury Short List, Recognition of Literary Excellence.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dianne Warren awarded inaugural Glengarry Book award of $20,000 for English-language fiction novel ‘The Diamond House’

Governor General award-winner receives largest literary prize in province’s history

Regina – December 2, 2021 – Launched by the Saskatchewan Foundation For the Arts in June of 2021, the Glengarry Book Award supports Saskatchewan’s literary culture. The $20,000 (CAD) prize celebrates authors with Saskatchewan roots; the 2021 award celebrates nationally recognized Canadian author Dianne Warren.

The award was the vision of donor and booklover Claire Kramer, a founding trustee of the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts (SFFA). The Glengarry Book Award is an annual award for a first edition English language novel or book of short fiction.

“I am delighted to recognize the first recipient of the Glengarry Book Award. Dianne Warren has made a significant contribution to Canadian literature. She paints her actors with a fine brush and has a strong perception of character. The Diamond House is a great read.”, says Kramer.

Dianne Warren is an author from Regina. Warren won the National Magazine Gold Award for Fiction and the Western Magazine Award for Fiction. She also won the Marian Engel Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada in 2004. Her first novel, Cool Water, won the Governor General’s Award for English-language fiction in 2010 and was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Warren says, “It’s such a great honour to be the first recipient of this prize. I feel very fortunate that the jury chose to recognize The Diamond House, and I’m so grateful to Claire Kramer for her gift to writers and books. When you are in the process of writing a novel, you are so immersed in the world of the story that it feels alive, and there is a kind of loss when the book is finished. A prize such as the Glengarry can draw attention to a book so that it can live again in the minds and imaginations of readers. It is very difficult for all the good Canadian books to garner the attention they deserve, and I am grateful for every new reader that the Glengarry Prize might attract to The Diamond House.”

The Glengarry Book Award is managed and administered by the SFFA. Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the Canada Media Fund, led the formation of the jury and the adjudication of the entries. The jury, comprised of a Canadian author, publisher and former judge and diplomat, selected The Diamond House for its superior writing, character, and plot development. The jury also wished to recognize If Sylvie Had Nine Lives by Leona Theis, Vermin by Lori Hahnel and Small Reckonings by Karin Melberg Schwier.

Three-time Governor General award-winning author Guy Vanderhaeghe says, “The announcement of the $20,000 Glengarry Book Award by the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts is a cause for celebration by all who care about the distinguished Saskatchewan literary tradition that first found expression with Sinclair Ross and W.O. Mitchell and which has, in the work of their successors, continued to give vibrant voice to this place and this people. The generosity of Claire Kramer, who funded The Glengarry Book Award, needs to be applauded. It is proof that the arts matter here.”

In addition to the launch of the national ‘Saskatchewan roots’ Glengarry Book Award, in 2021, the Foundation will provide an additional eight awards of $5,000 each, supported by the SFFA’s six named endowment funds to Saskatchewan artists in various disciplines.

“The Glengarry Book award follows a long history of Saskatchewan arts patrons supporting and celebrating the arts. We are honored to be a part of recognizing the creativity of literary artists who have made their mark on Saskatchewan. Whether they started their career here or were raised here, they are connected to this land and our province. We celebrate Dianne Warren as the 2021 Glengarry Book Award recipient. This is a momentous time in the Foundation’s history”, says Gursh Barnard, Chair of the SFFA’s board of trustees.

About the Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts

The Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts (SFFA) is a public Foundation dedicated solely to creating a legacy of financial support for the arts and artists in Saskatchewan, through the generous financial support of individuals, organizations, and corporations. http://www.saskartsfoundation.com/

Gursh Barnard: Chair Board of Trustees Tel: 306-737-8980
E-mail: info@saskartsfoundation.com

Book zooming

I was happy to be invited by Kathryn Warden to pop in to meet the members of her book club, one that has been around for 30 years. That’s a lot of books under the bridge. This was a fun evening of conversation about Small Reckonings, and the club was the first to hear a short reading from the sequel. When I finished reading, there was a silence and a small intake of breath from someone so… I’m counting that as a good response! Thanks, Kathryn, for the invite. It was a pleasure to meet everyone and I was humbled by how thoroughly everyone read and digested the novel. It is always a bit nerve wracking to, as my friend novelist Anne Simpson says, “to have your story get dressed up like a book and go out into the world.” So a thoughtful, warm reception is always welcome!