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2018 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards

On September 5, 2018 The Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador was pleased to announce the winners of the 22nd Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards (NLBAs), this year honouring excellence in the categories of Fiction and Children’s/Young Adult.

In a ceremony at Government House this afternoon, author Joel Thomas Hynes was named winner of the 2018 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction for We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd); and author Sheilah Lukins was named winner of the Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Award for Full Speed Ahead: Errol’s Bell Island Adventure (Breakwater Books). Each winner received a cash prize of $1500. The four runners-up — Bridget Canning and Mary Walsh for Fiction; and Lori Doody and Rebecca North for Children’s/Young Adult — each received $500.

Fiction judges Matthew LeDrew, Elisabeth de Mariaffi, and Sara Tilley said of We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night:

“An exceedingly well-paced narrative that never falls apart. It is bleak and uncompromising: The Odyssey of modern Newfoundland fiction by way of Huckleberry Finn.”

Children’s/Young Adult judges Theresa Uchechi Ezeuko, Catherine Hogan-Safer, and Susan MacDonald said of Full Speed Ahead: Errol’s Bell Island Adventure:

“Great adventure, very intriguing, with lots of humour to keep the reader cracking up in laughter. The author was able to work through different emotions of the key character while keeping the story consistent and engaging.”

The 2018 NLBAs were made possible by the generous support of Killick Capital (sponsor of this year’s Fiction Award) and the Bruneau Family. The awards are held annually under the distinguished patronage of The Honourable Judy Foote, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. We also wish to thank Rogers TV, CBC, NL Public Libraries, the City of St. John’s, The Telegram, Perfect Day, NL Teachers’ Association, and Broken Books for their kind contributions, as well as Angela Antle and Don-E Coady for giving their time to host our shortlist readings.