The John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award contest, now in its sixth year, is an excellent opportunity for Canadian short-story authors. On Saturday evening at the WEDS theatre in Dutton, the award presentation was also a chance for the audience to learn about a remarkable Canadian author from the past and to hear a mesmerizing reading of the winning short story by its author.
The awards are organized by Jenny Phillips, Jerry Galbraith and Leslie Galbraith to honour John Kenneth Galbraith who was born in Dutton more than 100 years ago and who went on to become an internationally acclaimed economist, ambassador and author. In addition, the awards aim to celebrate the community of Dutton and to encourage Canadian authors. The prize medal and $2,000 cash award are given annually for the best short story selected from twelve semi-finalists.
Guest speaker Barry Penhale joked about Saturday’s chilly weather, showing the audience a re-usable bag which had proved to be a very big hit at an international publishers event in London England with it’s slogan, “Canada Is Cool (literally)”.
Barry has been a journalist, broadcaster and publisher, and works currently with Dundurn Press of Hamilton. He noted that though it is wonderful to be a ‘name’ author, that’s not necessarily the role of many of our writers - many authors work very hard crafting their books on important topics, without getting a lot of thanks.
Guest speaker Barry Penhale joked about Saturday’s chilly weather, showing the audience a re-usable bag which had proved to be a very big hit at an international publishers event in London England with it’s slogan, “Canada Is Cool (literally)”.
Barry has been a journalist, broadcaster and publisher, and works currently with Dundurn Press of Hamilton. He noted that though it is wonderful to be a ‘name’ author, that’s not necessarily the role of many of our writers - many authors work very hard crafting their books on important topics, without getting a lot of thanks.
Above: Jerry Galbraith, Alyssa Foulkes, Leslie Galbraith (top left); Barry Penhale (top right); Jerry Galbraith, Leslie Galbaith, Jenny Phillips (middle right); Alyssa with judge Jane Gibson (bottom right).
He went on to describe the remarkable life of Louise de Kariline Lawrence, calling her “probably one of the most talented writers I have published” with a “mastery of English no other person I have published to date has had”.
He painted a picture of a woman whose story consisted, really, of several stories. She was born in 1894 to a prominent Swedish family, became a nurse and experienced love and a tragic end to that love, came to Canada to work as a rural nurse and was hired to help care for the Dionne Quintuplets. She went on to live in a remote log cabin in northern Ontario where she developed into an internationally renowned naturalist and author. She won the John Burroughs Medal for her book, “The Lovely and the Wild” in 1969, one year after it was won by Rachael Carson for “Silent Spring”.
He painted a picture of a woman whose story consisted, really, of several stories. She was born in 1894 to a prominent Swedish family, became a nurse and experienced love and a tragic end to that love, came to Canada to work as a rural nurse and was hired to help care for the Dionne Quintuplets. She went on to live in a remote log cabin in northern Ontario where she developed into an internationally renowned naturalist and author. She won the John Burroughs Medal for her book, “The Lovely and the Wild” in 1969, one year after it was won by Rachael Carson for “Silent Spring”.
Above: Jerry Galbraith, Alyssa Foulkes & Leslie Galbraith
This year, the top three finalists for the John Kenneth Galbraith Award were Marlet Ashley (Comox, B.C), Roy Innes (Gabriola, B.C.), and Alyssa Foulkes (Guelph, Ontario). The winner, announced Saturday evening, was Alyssa Foulkes. This was Alyssa’s third time as a semi-finalist and she was delightfully excited (just a little bit) to be the winner this year with her story, “The Memories of Brothers”.
She offered the audience a bit of background – “every story starts with a little grain of sand which is polished”. Her grain of sand, in this case, was two friends who grew up with “less than wonderful fathers”. Alyssa went on to give a skilfully paced and animated reading of her powerful story.
Read more about the awards: www.johnkennethgalbraithliteraryaward.ca/.
She offered the audience a bit of background – “every story starts with a little grain of sand which is polished”. Her grain of sand, in this case, was two friends who grew up with “less than wonderful fathers”. Alyssa went on to give a skilfully paced and animated reading of her powerful story.
Read more about the awards: www.johnkennethgalbraithliteraryaward.ca/.
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