Rawi Hage and Sina Queyras among finalists for Quebec Writers' Federation Literary Awards

Rawi Hage, Gillian Sze, D.M.Bradford and Sina Queyrasare among the shortlistedauthors and translators for the 2022QWFLiterary Awards.

Established by the Quebec Writers' Federation in 1988, the QWF Literary Awards annually honour the best bookspublished by English-language writers and translators in Quebec in eightcategories.

Hage'sshort collectionStray Dogsis nominated for theParagraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction.

The characters in Stray Dogsare restless travellers, moving between nation states and states of mind, seeking connection and trying to escape the past. Set in Montreal, Beirut, Tokyo and more, these stories highlight the often random ways our fragile modern identities are constructed, destroyed and reborn.

Stray Dogsisalso on the2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist.

Hageis a Montreal-based writer. His books includeDe Niro's Game,which won the International Dublin Literary Award in 2008;Cockroach,which received the Hugh MacLennan Prize for fiction, was defended by Samantha Bee onCanada Readsin 2014, and was shortlisted for theScotiabank Giller Prizeand the Governor General's Literary Award;Carnival,which was a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; andBeirut Hellfire Society,which was on the shortlist forthe Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeandthe Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.

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Sze is shortlisted twice: her picture bookYou Are My Favorite Coloris nominated in theJanet Savage Blachford Prizefor Children's and Young Adult Literature category and poetry collection Quiet Night Thinkis nominated in theA.M. Klein Prize for Poetry category.

Sze is a Montreal poet originally from Winnipeg. She is the author of multiple poetry collections, as well as the children's bookThe Night is Deep and Wide.

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Bradford's poetry collection Dream of No One but Myselfis nominated in both theA.M. Klein Prize for Poetry andConcordia University First Book Prize categories.

Dream of No One but Myselfcombines prose poems, verse and collages of family photos to describe what it was like to growup in a troubled family. InDream of No One but Myself,D.M.Bradford presents an unstable, frayed account of family inheritance, intergenerational traumas and domestic tenderness.

Bradford is a poet, editor and organizer based in Montreal. His work has appeared in The Capilano Review, The Tiny, The Fiddlehead, Carte Blanche and elsewhere. He is a founding editor of House House Press.

Dream of No One but Myselfwas also shortlisted for the2022 Griffin Poetry Prize andlonglisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.

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RoomsbyQueyrasis a finalist for Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction.

Thirty years ago, a professor threw a chair atQueyras after they submitted an essay on Virginia Woolf. In Rooms, theyreturnto that first encounter with Virignia Woolf and blendmemoir, tweets, poetry and criticism to reflect on how they found their way as a young queer writer from a life of chaos to a public life as a writer.

Queyrasis a poet and novelist from Montreal. Their other books includeMy Ariel,the poetry collectionLemon Hound, which received the Pat Lowther Award and a Lambda Literary Award, and theirdebut novelAutobiography of a Childhood, which was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award in 2011.

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Below is theshortlist for this year's awards. The winner for each category will receive $3,000:

The Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature is awarded in even-numbered years and recognizes a book for beginner readers, and in odd-numbered years to a book for middle grade or young adult readers.

The finalists this year are:

• Mina by Matthew Forsythe
• I'm Not Sydney!by Marie-Louise Gay
• Pink, Blue, And You! by Elise Gravel
• You Are My Favorite Colour by Gillian Sze

The First Book Prize is sponsored byConcordia University.

This year's finalists are:

• Prophetessby Baharan Baniahmadi
• Dream of No One But Myselfby D.M.Bradford
• the half-drownedbyTrynne Delaney
• We Have Never Lived On Earthby Kasia Van Schaik

The Cole Foundation Prize for Translation honours a English-French translatorin even-numbered years and French-English translator in odd-numbered years.

Thefinalists this year are:

• Plus aucun enfant autochtone arrachbyNicolas Calv
• Le premier coup de clairon pour rveiller les femmes immorales byJonathan Lamy
• Fils d'un tout petit hrosbyLori Saint-Martin andPaul Gagn

The finalists for A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry this year are:

• Dream of No One But Myselfby D.M.Bradford
• Horrible DancebyAvery Lake
• EmanationsbyPrathna Lor
• Quiet Night Thinkby Gillian Sze

The finalists for Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction this year are:

• Spin Doctors byNora Loreto
• The Rebel Scribe byChristopher Neal
• Roomsby Sina Queyras
• Looking for Alicia byMarc Raboy

The Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction is sponsored by Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore in Montreal.

The 2022finalists are:

• A Convergence of Solitudesby Anita Anand
• Prophetessby Baharan Baniahmadi
• Stray Dogs by Rawi Hage
• Jonesby Neil Smith

The QWFPrize for Playwriting isby Gabriel Safdie in conjunction with Infinithtre:

• The Silent Womanby Alexandria Haber & Ned Cox
• BelovedbyArthur Holden
• Beautiful ManbyErin Shields
• The Millennial MalcontentbyErin Shields

New for 2022is a spoken word category:theQWF Spoken Word Prizewill be awarded to up to three Quebec-based spoken word, storytelling, or literary performance artists working primarily in English in any form of performative writing, including poetry, story, monologue, hip hop, dub, sound poetry, experimental or interdisciplinary work.

Winners of the QWF Spoken Word Prize will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a featured spot at the 2023 Words & Music Show,Montreal's longest running spokenwordpoetry, literature and performance event

The 2022finalists are:

• Deborah Braide
• Liana Cusmano
• Lucia De Luca
• Roen Higgins
• Ern Moure
• Caitlin Murphy
• Johanne Pelletier
• Rassa Simone

The Quebec Writers' Federation is a non-profit organization that aims to support, connect and inspire English writers in Quebec.The winners will be announced at a gala event inMontreal on Monday, Nov. 14.

Last year's winnersincludedLove Like Water, Love Like Fireby Mikhail Iossel, Fighting for a Hand to Holdby Samir Shaheen-Hussain and Room for One More by Monique Polak.