By Sarah Junkin
The Eagle
Three Cochrane writers have been nominated for prestigious literary awards, but not without a whiff of controversy for one of them.
Fred Stenson and Marina Endicott, who recently moved to Edmonton, were both shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the Canadian/Caribbean best book category.
But when it was discovered that Stenson’s wife, Pamela Banting, was a member of the three-panel jury, the Commonwealth Foundation asked her to withdraw from her position. In a Feb. 20 press release, the foundation said no rules were broken, but contest regulations stipulate a judge may not nominate a book by a spouse or family member. Banting, an editor, will remain on the jury in the Best First Book category.
Technically Banting could have remained on the panel so long as she didn’t deliberate on her husband’s book, but the London, England-based foundation asked her to withdraw “as an additional and extraordinary caution.”
Still, Stenson is pleased to be on the list along with Endicott, four other Canadians, and one Caribbean author.
“I’ve had better feedback on The Great Karoo than any other novel in my life,” said the veteran novelist of his 15th book, a work of historical fiction about a group of soldiers who were recruited to join the Canadian Mounted Rifles during the Boer War at a time when the British were not faring well. The Great Karoo is a plateau basin in Western Cape province lying between the Great Escarpment and Swartberg.
“The trick is I feel pretty confident that if I can get the reader to read the book, he or she will enjoy it,” said Stenson, who dedicated The Great Karoo to Banting, and refers to Endicott as a “friend” in the acknowledgements. Stenson was also nominated for a Governor General Literary Award last year.
Endicott, whose second novel Good to a Fault was nominated for a 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize, said it was “a huge surprise” to learn she was nominated for the Commonwealth Prize.
“I’m so happy to be on the same list as Fred at last,” she added. Other notable nominees include Salman Rushdie, David Lodge and Nino Ricci.
Endicott, whose first novel Open Arms has been re-issued, will be reading and signing books from 1-3 p.m. on March 6 at Cochrane’s Bentleys Books. Good to a Fault is the story of a middle-aged woman who crashes her vehicle into the car of a family down on its luck. When it turns out that the mother is in the latter stages of cancer, the protagonist moves the three children and their grandmother into her home.
The Commonwealth Foundation divides the world into four regions: Africa, Canada/Caribbean, Europe/South Asia and Southeast Asia/Pacific. Each regional winner will receive $2,000 with the overall winner pocketing $18,000. Last year’s overall winner was Canadian Lawrence Hill for The Book of Negroes.
Also, up for a different literary award is Cochrane’s B.J. (Beverly) Bayle for her young person’s novel Perilous Passage, the story of a teen boy suffering from amnesia as the result of a shipwreck. He happens to meet legendary explorer David Thompson, and together they embark on a series of adventures and life-threatening challenges. The annual Red Maple award is sponsored by the Ontario Library Association, and gives students in Grades 7 and 8 the opportunity to select the winner. Voters must register by Feb. 28 to be eligible to vote on April 20.
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