Author adds to acclaim

Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize names Esi Edugyan among finalists

The awar ds nods keep on coming for Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black.

The Victor ia-based author is among five finalists for the lucr ative Roger s Wr iter s’ Tr ust Fiction Pr ize honour ing the year ’s best novel or shor t-stor y collection.

This mar ks the thir d nomination in r ecent weeks for Edugyan, whose latest novel also ear ned her a spot as a finalist for the Man Booker Pr ize for fiction, and has been longlisted for this year ’s Scotiabank Giller Pr ize.

Washington Black (Patr ick Cr ean Editions) follows the saga of an 11-year -old boy who escapes slaver y at a Bar bados sugar plantation with the help of the owner ’s kinder br other .

The winner of the $50,000 Wr iter s’ Tr ust Fiction Pr ize will be announced Nov. 7. Each of the finalists will also take home $5,000.

Other contender s include Montr eal-based Rawi Hage for Beir ut Hellfir e Society (Knopf Canada), which has also been longlisted for this year ’s Giller pr ize, telling the tale of an under taker ’s son who is dr awn into an anti-r eligious sect during the Lebanese Civil War.

St. Ca th arin es, Ont.-raised Craig Davidson is being recognized for The Saturday Night Ghost Club (Knopf Canada), about a young boy who teams up with his uncle to explore the grim urban myths that haunt Niagara Falls.

Vancouver ’s Jen Neale also made the cut for her novel about Canada’s seaside life, Land Mammals and Sea Creatures( EC W Press ), which expand son the short story that won her the 2011 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.

Rounding out the shortlist is U.K.-bor n Kathy Page, who now live son Salt Spring Island, B.C ., with Dear Evelyn (Biblioasis), a Second World War-era romance inspiredby o rig inal1940s love letters.

A jury comprising authors An nY. K.Choi, Mireille Silcoff, and Robert Wier se ma culled the finalists fr om 128 books submitted by 54 publisher s.

Past winners include Alice Munro, Joseph Boy den, Lawrence Hill, Miriam Toews and the late Austin Clarke.