ola meeting space: ola meeting space -> Nominated Titles for the 2009 Evergreen Award Announced!

At the 2009 Super Conference that just passed, author Lawrence Hill was awarded the 2008 Evergreen Award for having the winning title for “The Book of Negroes”. During his award ceremony, the nominated titles for the 2009 Evergreen Awards were announced. The shortlist consisted of ten books selected by a committee of librarians. The nominated titles are:

Apples to Oysters: a Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms
By Margaret Webb
Viking Canada (paperback coming March 2009)

Margaret Webb’s journey to learn more about those who produce our food has resulted in a inspiring, poignant and often very funny read. Each chapter introduces us to a different region of Canada and the challenges faced by these under appreciated “chefs of the soil and the sea”. It will change the way you eat.

The Calling
By Inger Ash Wolfe
McClelland and Stewart (paperback coming April 2009)

The first in a new series of books featuring Hazel Micallef, a DI from the fictional town of Port Dundas, Ontario, this murder mystery begins with the death of an elderly woman. Hazel’s team find links to other murders that lead them outside their jurisdiction.

Cellist of Sarajevo
By Steven Galloway
Knopf Canada

This novel is based on the true story of a cellist who played in a square in Sarajevo for several days to commemorate the killing of people who were killed while waiting for food. We follow the characters of a young female sniper, an older man working in a bakery, and a father of young children as they live their lives in the beleaguered city.

Coventry
By Helen Humphreys
Harper Collins Canada

Set mostly on November 14, 1940, the day that the city of Coventry in England was destroyed by German bombers, this story centers on a middle-aged woman working as a fire watcher. Parts of the story take us into her past as well as forward to after the city was rebuilt. You get a strong sense of the destruction, heartbreak and devastation that the populace encountered.

Good to a Fault
By Marina Endicott
Broadview Press

A minor fender bender becomes the catalyst for a major life change for Clara Purdy, a quiet, forty-something insurance investigator, when her car crashes into a homeless family and she feels so responsible for their welfare, that she moves them all in with her. Suddenly her house is filled with noisy children, hospital visits, and, most unexpectedly, romance. A wonderfully written and deeply moving story.

In Spite of Myself: a memoir
By Christopher Plummer
Knopf Canada

A deeply honest self-portrait by one of the most celebrated actors of our time. In Spite of Myself is a fascinating account of Christopher Plummer’s colourful life in film and on the stage. His many candid anecdotes about his legendary colleagues are sure to delight and make this a must read.

The Killing Circle
By Andrew Pyper
Doubleday Canada

Widower Patrick Rush’s life has been gradually crumbling since his wife’s death. Struggling to keep his job and taking on the role of both mother and father to his young son, he joins a local writing circle and in the process slowly becomes obsessed with a horror story by one of the group, that seems to have real life connections to a serial killer who Rush begins to suspect may in fact be a member of his group.

The Outlander
By Gil Adamson
House of Anansi

Early in the twentieth century, pursued by her brothers-in-law, a young widow flees across the prairie and into the mountains. As she struggles for survival and learns to make her way in a new world, she also discovers new depths in herself. A true Canadian adventure novel.

Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth
By Margaret Atwood
House of Anansi Press

This timely book, part of the Massey lecture series, looks at the history of debt and the way that it has influenced us socially. This is an enlightening look at the topic from a highly literate viewpoint.

Ragged Company
By Richard Wagamese
Doubleday Canada

Four homeless people who have started hanging out together find a lottery ticket and discover they are big winners. Because they have no identification, they engage the help of an acquaintance in claiming the prize. Their change in circumstance forces them to come to terms which those forces and events that brought them to where they are.


The Evergreen Award™ is one of OLA's newest additions to the Forest of Reading®. It was introduced at Super Conference 2005 for adults of any age. It gives adult library patrons the opportunity to vote for a work of Canadian fiction or non-fiction that they have liked the most. 

For more information about the Forest of Reading program, please visit the OLA's web site at: http://www.accessola.com/reading.