Commonwealth Writer’s Prizes – Regional shortlists announced

I used to think that book award season was in the fall, but I’m getting more and more evidence that it’s actually a year round event. Case in point, the announcement this week of the regionally shortlisted titles for this year’s Commonwealth Writer’s Prize.

The Commonwealth Prize is an interesting one. Open to books in English from Commonwealth Countries, it recognizes both regional winners and an overall winner. Of the books that have been shortlisted for the regional awards, one for each region is declared a winner. These four regional winners are then the books that make up the shortlist for the overall prize.

The four regions of the Commonwealth Writers Prize are: Africa; Caribbean and Canada; South Asia and Europe and South East Asia and Pacific.

This year Canadian writers have fared exceptionally well in the regional shortlists:

The shortlisted writers or the Caribbean and Canada Best Book are:

The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels (Canada)