Times Colonist writer Jack Knox nominated for Leacock medal
Columnist Jack Knox has been nominated for the 2018 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour for Opportunity Knox: Twenty Years of Award-Losing Humour Writing, a compilation of his Times Colonist humour columns.
This is the second consecutive year Knox has been long-listed for the $15,000 prize, which recognizes the best in Canadian literary humour.
He was long-listed in 2017 for the bestselling Hard Knox: Musings From the Edge of Canada,a book about and from the perspective of Vancouver Island.
Knox has been at the Times Colonist since 1988 as an editor and writer, and has been writing a humour column since 1997.
“Jack brings a unique perspective to the pages of the Times Colonist,” editor Dave Obee said. “No other Canadian newspaper has a writer who could match Jack Knox. Our readers appreciate his sense of humour and his way of looking at life on Vancouver Island.
“The Leacock nomination is a thrill for everyone at the newspaper.”
Knox has won Jack Webster journalism awards, including the 2015 award for Commentator of the Year.
Opportunity Knox was published in October by Heritage House Publishing.
Knox’s third book, On the Rocks With Jack Knox: Islanders I Will Never Forget, will be published by Heritage House in November. A collection of stories about people from Vancouver Island, the book will be more serious than the previous two.
The 2018 Leacock long list also includes: • One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul • Six Degrees of Freedom by Nicolas Dickner, translated by Lazer Lederhendler • Stella Ryman and the Fairmount Manor Mysteries by Mel Anastasiou • Gone to Pot by Jennifer Craig • Class Mom by Laurie Gelman • Beforelife by Randal Graham • The Discovery of Honey by Terry Griggs • The Gynesaurs by P.H. Oliver • Love and Laughter in the Time of Chemotherapy by Manjusha Pawagi.
The 10 books were chosen from 70 entries from across Canada. Three finalists will be announced on May 2 in Orillia, Ont., home of the Leacock Museum. The winner will be announced on June 9.