Winning Writers

The names of talented writers with ties to Memorial could fill a book—and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts & Letters 2007 competition certainly served to illustrate that point.

The 55th annual ceremony, held at The Rooms on May 26, was a chance for the province to recognize visual, musical and literary artists in both senior and junior categories.

The biggest award of the evening, the Percy Janes First Novel Award worth $1500, went to Degan Davis for his as-yet-unpublished book The Forgetting Room. Degan had graduated from Memorial just the day before with a degree in counselling. He has also taken Memorial courses in creative writing.

In the Senior Poetry category, awards were presented to English professor Susan Ingersoll, alumni Carmelita McGrath (BA, BEd), Karen Patzold (BA) and Mark Callanan (BA) and Memorial student Duncan Major. Both Carmelita and Mark won in this category last year, as well, and earlier this year, Mark received the 2007 Lawrence Jackson Writers Award.

In the Senior Short Fiction category, alumni Vicki Antle (BA/BEd), Tina Chaulk (DIT, BA), Gerard Collins (BA, PhD) and Susan Rendell (BA) all came away winners.

In the Senior Non-fictional Prose, alumna Marjorie Doyle, as well as Lesley-Anne Ryan, a current student of the Creative Writing Diploma program, were recognized for their achievements.

Other recent awards for Memorial writers include:

Scott Bartlett won the H.R. (Bill) Percy Prize at the 2007 Atlantic Writing Competition for his manuscript Royal Flush.
Former students of English 4911: Advanced Creative Writing (Poetry) proved their poetic might when they placed in the 2007 ARC Poetry Competition, which garners hundreds of entries. Degan Davis took second prize, while Danielle Devereaux and Sarah Wiseman also placed in the top 50 (no mean feat considering the high number of quality submissions for this competition).
Faculty of Arts alumnus Wayne Johnston (BAH '79) received an Honorary Doctor of Letters in May. Last year, his novel The Custodian of Paradise landed on the long list for the renowned 2006 Giller Prize.

Memorial writers swept the 2007 Book Awards, given by the Writers' Alliance.
Jacob McArthur Mooney (BA 2006) credits the living language of Newfoundland and the poetry seminars at Memorial for revealing his inner poet. His first poetry collection will be published in 2008. More ...
Arts student and well-known writer/editor Joan Sullivan was recently named editor of the Newfoundland Quarterly, one of the oldest magazines in the country. More...
In 2006, Alison Pick, who was completing an interdisciplinary master's degree in humanities, received the prestigious national CBC/Radio Canada Literary Award for her series of poems The Mind's Eyes.
Janet McNaughton, a graduate of Memorial's folklore program, was applauded by the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador when her book Brave Jack and the Unicorn won the 2006 Bruneau Family Children's Literature Award. The Writers' Alliance also presented honorary degree recipient Joan Clark with the Bennington Gate Fiction Award for her novel An Audience of Chairs.
Memorial's most recent writer-in-residence, Don McKay, worked with students, staff, faculty and the larger community in the fall of 2006. He has since been nominated for the lucrative Griffin Prize for Strike/Slip (McClelland & Stewart). The prize awards $50,000 to the best book of Canadian poetry and $50,000 to the best book of international poetry. Fellow nominees are Newfoundland-born Ken Babstock of Toronto for Airstream Land Yacht (House of Anansi Press) and Priscila Uppal of Toronto for Ontological Necessities (Exile Editions).

Memorial University's growing reputation will continue to attract wordsmiths. In Fall, 2006, Memorial launched diploma programs in Creative Writing and Professional Writing.