Two young Halifax writers spent the last week waiting anxiously for the announcement of the Metcalfe-Rooke Award for Short Fiction. Ryan Turner and Amy Jones made the five-writer shortlist, selected from over 90 entries. The winner receives a publishing contract with Biblioasis, $1,500 cash prize and a bunch of other great perks, so it seems pretty nasty business that the announcement was delayed until Tuesday. Jones, who now lives in Toronto, won the prize, the judges declaring: "We were struck by her narrative drive but taken mostly by the crispness of her dialog and the humor we found irresistible. As with all talented writers, there is something idiosyncratic about her vision of things, something difficult to pin down but recognizably Amy Jones whenever it occurs."
If those authors' names seem familiar to you, both have appeared in The Coast's annual holiday fiction issue; Turner's novel, Radiostation Berlin was serialized as Coast Bottomwriting (RIP) and Jones won the CBC Literary Prize in 2006 for her short story, "The People Who Love Her."
Link to: Radiostation Berlin, from the Bottomwriting archives.Until Morning, by Ryan Turner from the Holiday Fiction Issue, 2006.Post_Mortem, by Amy Jones from the Holiday Fiction Issue, 2007.