Casey Plett wins 2019 Amazon Canada First Novel Award for debut novel
On May 22, the Globe and Mail Centre played host to the 43rd annual Amazon Canada First Novel Award (amazon.ca/firstnovelaward) where the grand prize of $60,000 went to Winnipeg native Casey Plett, for her debut novel, Little Fish.
Additionally, sixteen-year-old Jenniffer Meng was named the winner of the Youth Short Story Category for her story, “Where do all the birds go?” Jenniffer will receive a prize of $5,000 along with a mentorship lunch with editors of The Walrus.
About Little Fish:
Little Fish explores the winter of discontent in the life of one transgender woman as her past and future become irrevocably entwined. It is the dead of winter in Winnipeg, and Wendy Reimer, a thirty-year-old trans woman, feels like her life is frozen in place. When her Oma (grandmother) passes away, Wendy receives an unexpected call from a distant family friend who tells her a startling secret: Wendy’s Opa (grandfather)—a devout Mennonite farmer—might have been transgender himself. Can Wendy unravel the mystery of her grandfather’s world and reckon with the culture that both shaped and rejected her? She’s determined to try.
About Casey:
Previous accolades include winning the Lambda Literary Award for Best Transgender Fiction and she received an Honour of Distinction from The Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers.
In addition to her debut novel, Casey is also the author of the short story collection A Safe Girl to Love and co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers.
Amazon Canada First Novel Award shortlist:
The shortlist for the year’s award also included:
