Violin tale wins big at children’s literature gala
Friday, November 14, 2014
A world-class classical violinist trades the concert stage for a Washington DC subway station as part of a Washington Post social experiment.
He plays for 45 minutes. Of the more than 1,000 people who walked past; only seven stop to savour the music. Total take from his performance: just over thirty bucks.
Six years later, a Canadian writer and illustrator, Kathy Stinson and Dušan Petričić, took what happened and fashion it into The Man with the Violin (Annick Press).
A year later, Stinson and Petričić’s efforts pay off with the news they have won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.
The announcement was made at a gala event in Toronto on November 6 hosted by CBC radio personality, Shelagh Rogers, that saw $135,000 in literary prizes given out to Canadian children’s writers and illustrators by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC).
Several of our affiliates, in addition to Stinson, were honored, including:
- Rona Arato, winner of the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction for The Last Train: A Holocaust Story (Owlkids Books)
- Karen Bass, winner of the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction For Young People for Graffiti Knight (Pajama Press)
- Erin Bow, winner of the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy for Sorrow’s Knot (Scholastic Canada)
- Andrew Larsen, co-winner of the CBC Fan Choice Award (with illustrator Dušan Petričić) for In the Tree House (Kids Can Press)
- Ted Staunton, winner of the John Spray Mystery Award for Who I’m Not (Orca Book Publishers)
As well, author Julie Morstad took home the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for How To (Simply Read Books). At an earlier event in Montreal, Andrée Poulin was celebrated by the CCBC with the Prix TD de literature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse for La plus grosse poutine du monde (Bayard Canada).
The CCBC also announced during the night’s festivities that a new award will be given out starting next year: the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.