Kobo has just announced the shortlist for its second annual Emerging Writer Prize. The award was created with the goal of kick-starting the careers of debut authors, with a $10,000 CAD cash prize awarded to a book in each of three categories: Non-Fiction, Literary Fiction, and Genre Fiction (Romance). In addition, each winning author will receive promotional, marketing, and communications support through 2016.
The shortlist, selected by Kobo’s team of booksellers among traditionally and self-published titles—with book completion rates, customer ratings and reviews considered—comprises six books from each genre. The shortlist will now move on to the final selection process, led by top Canadian authors: Camilla Gibb for Non-Fiction, Gail Anderson-Dargatz for Literary Fiction, and Lynsay Sands for Genre Fiction (Romance), with winners announced on June 21.
Non-Fiction
- Let the Elephants Run by David Usher – House of Anansi Press
- Born to Walk by Dan Rubinstein – ECW Press
- That Lonely Section of Hell by Lori Shenher – Greystone Books
- The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier – Penguin Canada
- The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew – Penguin Canada
- Beyond the Pale by Emily Urquhart – HarperCollins Canada
Literary Fiction
- Meadowlark by Wendi Stewart – NeWest Press
- Pillow by Andrew Battershill – Coach House Books
- Specimen by Irina Kovalyova – House of Anansi Press
- Debris by Kevin Hardcastle – Biblioasis
- Birdie by Tracey Lindberg – HarperCollins Canada
- Nothing Like Love by Sabrina Ramnanan – Doubleday Canada
Genre Fiction (Romance)
- Operation Wildcat by Megan Michelau – Self-Published
- Fury’s Kiss by Nicola R. White – Strange Roads Press
- Sway by Melanie Stanford – Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
- The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie – Atria Books
- Kiss and Makeup by Taryn Leigh Taylor – Harlequin
- No Conventional Miss by Eleanor Webster – Harlequin
For more information, please visit: www.kobo.com/emergingwriter
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.