The 2020 reading year was a little different this year at The Miramichi Reader. For the first part of the year, it contained reviews written by myself with the occasional guest post. Then, at the beginning of 2020, I made the major decision to expand the scope of the site beyond Eastern Canada, but in order to accomplish this, I would need more contributors. Obtaining them proved to be easier than I thought, and I am happy to have a strong team of reviewers who are authors, poets, and literature scholars. So, the 2020 longlist is a blended effort to recognize the best of the CanLit titles that were reviewed here at TMR. The winners of “The Very Best!” Book Awards for 2020 will be announced after Labour Day. Here is the 2020 shortlist! (The listings are in no particular order.)
2020 Shortlist
Best Fiction
- Side by Side by Anita Kushwaha
- The Afrikaner by Arianna Dagnino (Guest post at Consumed by Ink)
- The Tender Birds by Carole Giangrande
- A Song From Faraway by Deni Ellis Béchard
- Lay Figures by Mark Blagrave
- All I Ask by Eva Crocker
- Some People’s Children by Bridget Canning
Best Historical Fiction (Back for 2020!)
- Exile Blues by Douglas Gary Freeman
- A Roll of the Bones by Trudy J. Morgan-Cole
- Two Crows Sorrow by Laura Churchill Duke
- The Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
- The Liars by Ida Linehan Young (Flanker Press)
Best Short Fiction
- A Dark House and Other Stories by Ian Colford
- The Group of Seven Reimagined, edited by Karen Schauber
- Watermark by Christy Ann Conlin
- Half-Sisters & Other Stories by Ryan Turner
- Send More Tourists…The Last Ones Were Delicious by Tracey Waddleton
Best First Book (Fiction or Non-Fiction)
- Even Weirder Than Before by Susie Taylor (Fiction)
- Blindshot by Denis Coupal (Fiction)
- The Daughter Who Walked Away by Kimia Eslah (Fiction)
- Lightness by Fanie Demeule (Fiction)
- The Imperilled Ocean by Laura Trethewey (Non-Fiction)
Best Non-Fiction
- Sea Trial: Sailing After My Father by Brian Harvey
- Silver Linings by Janice Landry
- Around the World in a Dugout Canoe by John M. MacFarlane and Lynn J. Salmon
- Black Cop by Calvin Lawrence
- A Medic’s Mind by Matthew Heneghan
Best Poetry (New for 2020!)
- New Brunswick by Shane Neilson
- Devil in the Woods by D.A. Lockhart
- Squall: Poems in the Voice of Mary Shelley by Chad Norman
- Narrow Cradle by Wade Kearley
- Cold Fire: Selected Poetry by Donna Allard
Best Cover Art/Design
- Val Fullard for Blue Bear Woman
- Maison 1608 by Solisco for The Art of The Fall
- Jenn Embree for Lay Figures
- David A. Gee for Sea Trial: Sailing After My Father
- Rhonda Molloy for A Roll of the Bones
- Heather Bryan for The Lost Sister
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The 2020 “Virtuous Love Award of Excellence” for Socially Conscious Publishing (All three are winners here!)
2020’s Most Promising Authors (All three are winners here!)
- Guglielmo D’Izzia (The Transaction)
- Matt Mayr (Things Worth Burying)
- Michelle Porter (Inquiries)
