TORONTO – Katherena Vermette was stocking up on supplies at Costco when she got the call telling her she had won the $ 60,000 Fiction Prize at the Writers’ Trust Awards.
As her four-year-old daughter squirmed in the cart, Vermette said she decided to celebrate by adding items to her transport.
“We’re just splurging on water and pineapple and everything,” Vermette joked over the phone from Winnipeg. “It’s a spending spree going on now.”
The Red River Métis poet and author was among the Indigenous word-makers who won the top two Writers’ Trust awards at a virtual ceremony Wednesday, with Cree musician and writer Tomson Highway taking home the non-fictional prize of 60,000 $.
Vermette received the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for her intergenerational saga, “The Strangers”, published by Hamish Hamilton Canada.
In their quote, the jury hailed the title as “a beautiful raw testimony from those who live on the fringes”.
The book explores the bonds between the women of the Stranger family even as the forces of inherited trauma, racism and colonialism threaten to pull them apart.
Some of the central characters were first introduced in Vermette’s debut novel, “The Break,” which was a Writers’ Trust finalist in 2016.
A self-proclaimed “high fantasy nerd,” Vermette said she took inspiration from the epic lore of the genre as she continues to build this narrative world in her next project.
“I love it when people create these huge, monstrous bulky worlds that you just have to lay down and understand. And I think a part of me really does, only it’s in the realism of North Winnipeg. “she said. .
“There’s no real magic going on, other than everyday magic, but I love the idea of creating a community that people can get to know.”
Vermette said she didn’t fully address her victory in an interview ahead of Wednesday’s announcement. But she suspected that reality might set in as she prepared to travel to Toronto to be celebrated as the inaugural winner of the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.
The organizers have renamed the award for Best Novel or Short Story this year in honor of literary couple Margaret Atwood and the late Graeme Gibson.
Highway received the non-fiction award of $ 60,000 for “Permanent Astonishment: A Memoir” from Doubleday Canada.
The book chronicles Highway’s coming of age – from his early years traveling the North with his nomadic caribou hunting family to his time at residential school.
The pianist and playwright from Gatineau, Que., Said “Permanent Astonishment” is the first of five books he plans to write about his life.
“I have had an amazing life and I’m happy for it,” said Highway, who will soon be 70. “I would like to leave my two cents behind.”
The Writers’ Trust of Canada presented a total of over $ 330,000 in prizes on Wednesday, including four career awards valued at $ 25,000 each.
Métis author Cherie Dimaline received the Writers’ Trust Engel / Findley Award, which is awarded to a mid-career writer in recognition of past and future achievements in the field of fiction.
Calgary-born Weyman Chan received the Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize honoring a mid-career poet for his mastery of form.
The $ 25,000 Vicky Metcalf Prize for Children’s Literature went to Linda Bailey of Vancouver.
Ottawa writer Frances Itani won the Matt Cohen Award celebrating a lifetime of contributions to Canadian literature.
The top two finalists each received $ 5,000.
The other fiction finalists were Miriam Toews, Alix Ohlin, Rivka Galchen and Guy Vanderhaeghe.
The non-fiction shortlist included Jordan Abel, Ken Haigh, Darrel J. McLeod and Ian Williams.
The Writers’ Trust is the first of three major literary prizes awarded this month.
The winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize will be named on Monday and the Governor General’s Literary Awards will be presented on November 17.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 3, 2021.
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