The John Kenneth Galbraith writing contest aims to encourage short story fiction writers and rewards the winner each year with an engraved medallion and a cheque for $2,000. An author from British Columbia was announced Saturday as the winner of the 2013 prize at an awards ceremony at the West Elgin Performing Arts Centre in West Lorne.
This year's judges were John Macfarlane, editor and co-publisher of the The Walrus; John Schlarbaum, mysery writer and former resident of West Lorne and James K. Galbraih, professor of economics and son of John Kenneth Galbraith. The stories of twelve semi-finalists are chosen from the submissions and sent to the judges for consideration. The judges then select the three finalists and from those make their choice for winner. Two of the three finalists were on hand for the seventh annual award ceremony. MC Jenny Phillips preceded her introductions with acknowledgement of the recent win by Alice Munroe of the Nobel prize for Literature for her short stories.
Guest speaker James Galbraith noted that is was in Dunwich that his father got his writing start, as a cub reporter for the St. Thomas times Journal. He went on to describe how the extensive collection of letters by John Kenneth Galbraith came to be received by the JFK presidential library and catalogued. They now form a public, unrestricted archive of 750,000 pages. He observed that this may be one of the last great paper archives compiled.
The finalist announced at the ceremony was Gord Grisenthwaite from Kelowna, B.C. for his story "The Fine Art of Frying Eggs". It was read aloud by Jerry Galbraith, one of the co-chairs of the Friends of Dutton Dunwich. The other two finalists were Ruth Zavitz from London with "Back to Beginnings" and Doreen McFarlane of St. Catharines with "The Violonist". Both spoke graciously about their appreciation of the opportunity for writers afforded by the JKG Awards.
Guest speaker James Galbraith noted that is was in Dunwich that his father got his writing start, as a cub reporter for the St. Thomas times Journal. He went on to describe how the extensive collection of letters by John Kenneth Galbraith came to be received by the JFK presidential library and catalogued. They now form a public, unrestricted archive of 750,000 pages. He observed that this may be one of the last great paper archives compiled.
The finalist announced at the ceremony was Gord Grisenthwaite from Kelowna, B.C. for his story "The Fine Art of Frying Eggs". It was read aloud by Jerry Galbraith, one of the co-chairs of the Friends of Dutton Dunwich. The other two finalists were Ruth Zavitz from London with "Back to Beginnings" and Doreen McFarlane of St. Catharines with "The Violonist". Both spoke graciously about their appreciation of the opportunity for writers afforded by the JKG Awards.
Above: Jerry Galbraith with finalist Doreen McFarlane and husband Graham McFarlane (left); Jerry with finalist Ruth Zavitz and son David Zavitz (right).
Top photo: John Schlarbaum & James Galbraith (back); Jerry Galbraith, Ruth Zavitz, Doreen McFarlane (front). Jenny Phillips is co-chair of the Friends of Dutton-Dunwich, along with Jerry Galbraith, nephew of JKG, and Leslie Galbraith, great niece of JKG. Find out more at www.johnkennethgalbraithliteraryaward.ca
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