B.C.'s Patrick deWitt wins Writers' Trust fiction prize

Vancouver Island native Patrick deWitt said he was breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday after his sophomore novel The Sisters Brothers won the $25,000 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeone of several lucrative literary awards it's been up for this fall.

"I definitely feel like I can just sort of relax and enjoy the ride for the rest of the time," deWitt, 36, said in interview after nabbing the honour.

"I'm not used to getting windfalls like this. I suspect I'll probably spend a lot of money at the record store, I'll probably spend a lot of money at the book store, and I suspect the rest will just go into the bank.

"It has to last because it's feast or famine for fiction writers."

A darkly comical Western-themed story, The Sisters Brothers (House of Anansi Press) follows two gunslinger siblings as they hunt down a man amid the 1850s California gold rush.

It's also in contention for the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize, which will be handed out next week, and for a $25,000 Governor General's fiction award, due to be announced Nov. 15.

The Sisters BrothersdeWitt's second novel after 2009's Ablutions was also a finalist for last month's prestigious Man Booker Prize in Britain.

"The Sisters Brothers is a book unlike any you may read during this or the coming years. Unforgettable," said Writers' Trust jury members Emma Donoghue, Margaret Sweatman and Rabindranath Maharaj, who read a total of 120 books from 53 publishers.

Lived with parents

DeWitt -- who lives in Portland, Ore., with his wife and son -- worked in construction and as a set painter before dedicating his career to writing full-time.

In his acceptance speech for the Writers' Trust prize, he thanked his family for supporting his writing endeavours and his agent for taking him on when he was just 30 years old and living with his parents.

"I'm indebted to him, he put his faith in me," said deWitt, who didn't attend college or university and chalks up his writing skills to his studies at the library and his voracious appetite for books.

DeWitt said later that the scope of his readership has grown "really quickly in a really short amount of time" lately, and he finds it "puzzling" and "jarring" how rapidly things have happened to him.

"But there's nothing negative about it," he added.

DeWitt beat out four other finalists for the 11th annual Writers' Trust fiction prize, including Victoria-based Esi Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen Publishers), which also made the short lists for the Giller, the GG fiction award, and the Booker.

Other Writers' Trust shortlisters included Clark Blaise for The Meagre Tarmac (Biblioasis), Michael Christie for The Beggar's Garden (HarperCollins Publishers) and Dan Vyleta for The Quiet Twin (HarperCollins Publishers).

Each finalist receives $2,500 while deWitt receives a total of $25,000.

Tuesday's awards ceremony, hosted by CBC Radio host Shelagh Rogers at the Isabel Bader Theatre, also included several other honours.

Among them was the Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, recognizing new and developing writers. It went to Miranda Hill, author of the short story Petitions to Saint Chronic.

Newfoundland-born novelist Wayne Johnston received the $25,000 Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award, for a writer in mid-career.

Fredericton novelist David Adams Richards received the $20,000 Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life.

And Gulf Islands novelist Iain Lawrence received the $20,000 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature.

The Writers' Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that was founded by authors including Margaret Atwood and the late Pierre Berton.