Transatlantic is thrilled to congratulate Alicia Elliott who is shortlisted for the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction for her wonderful A MIND SPREAD OUT ON THE GROUND (Doubleday Canada)!
“The brilliant essays in A MIND SPREAD OUT ON THE GROUND, linked by Alicia Elliott’s take-no-prisoners intensity and creative intellect, gallop along with increasing speed and passion as one leads to the next, throwing a much-needed pail of cold water upon Canada’s self-satisfied response to the call for Reconciliation. Experimenting with form, she artfully unrolls her life in a way that allows the reader to best hear her powerful insights on land, memory, and mental illness. Personal, political, and gut-wrenching, these stories overturn every stone in Elliott’s path, revealing the subtle and not-so-subtle persistence of the colonial, racist mindset as it continues to impact Indigenous lives today.” — Jury citation (Ivan Coyote, Trevor Herriot, and Manjushree Thapa)
This prestigious prize is given annually for excellence in the category of literary nonfiction, which includes essays, history, biography, memoir, commentary, and criticism. The winning book demonstrates a distinctive voice, as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and technique. With a prize of $60,000, this is the richest annual literary award for a book of nonfiction by a Canadian writer.
The 2019 winner will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards ceremony on November 5th. For more information, please visit https://www.writerstrust.com/awards/hilary-weston-writers-trust-prize-for-nonfiction.