U of A’s Bechtel on prize short list

Short-story collection nominated for publishers’ best book award

The literary debut of University of Alberta professor Greg Bechtel has been nominated by Alberta publishers for their best book award.

The Book Publisher Association of Alberta released its short list this week for the 2015 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.

The awards, which honour the best work by Alberta publishers, feature 24 finalists in 10 categories across areas of design.

Bechtel’s book, Boundary Problems, a collection of 10 time-bending short stories published by Freehand Books, is up for best trade fiction.

It was also a finalist for the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize.

Blind Spot, the debut novel of former Edmontonian Laurence Miall published by NeWest Press, is up for best book cover.

Alan Brownoff from the University of Alberta Press is nominated for best design for small things left behind, the poetry collection by local poet Ella Zeltserman.

Zeltserman’s collection is also up for best poetry, along with U of A professor E.D. Blodgett, for his work, as if.

The U of A imprint also has two nominees in the academic book category, including Aboriginal Populations, co-edited by professor Frank Trovato and Anatole Romaniuk, and Landscapes of War and Memory, the review of literature about the two world wars by University of British Columbia professor Sherrill Grace.

Winners will be announced at a gala on Sept. 18 at Fort Edmonton Park, where the group will also honour a publisher and editor with awards.

Tickets will be available through book publishers. ab.ca starting July 14.