Transatlantic is proud to see five of our clients recognized on the “Best Canadian Non-Fiction” List of 2019 by CBC Books, which celebrates the top Non-Fiction works released each year.
Below are our listed clients and their celebrated releases:
A MIND SPREAD OUT ON THE GROUND by Alicia Elliott (Doubleday Canada)
Alicia Elliott explores the systemic oppression faced by Indigenous peoples across Canada through the lens of her own experiences as a Tuscarora writer from Six Nations of the Grand River. Elliott examines how colonial violence, including the loss of language, seeps into the present day lives of Indigenous people, often in the form of mental illness. Elliott, who lives in Brantford, Ontario, won gold at the National Magazine Awards in 2017 for the essay this book is based on.
About Alicia
Alicia Elliott is a Tuscarora writer living in Brantford, Ontario. She has written for The Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt and many other publications. She’s had essays nominated for National Magazine Awards for three straight years, winning Gold in 2017, and her short fiction was selected for Best American Short Stories 2018, Best Canadian Stories 2018, and Journey Prize Stories 30. She was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, is a national bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Alicia is represented by Samantha Haywood and Stephanie Sinclair for her literary work and by Rob Firing for her speaking engagements.
WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE by Samra Habib (Penguin Random House)
Samra Habib’s memoir We Have Always Been Here is an exploration of the ways we disguise and minimize ourselves for the sake of survival. As a child, Habib hid her faith from Islamic extremists in Pakistan and later, as a refugee in Canada, endured racist bullying and the threat of an arranged marriage. In travelling the world and exploring art and sexuality, Habib searches for the truth of her identity.
About Samra
Samra Habib is a writer, photographer, and activist. As a journalist she’s covered topics ranging from fashion trends and Muslim dating apps to the rise of Islamophobia in the US. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Advocate, and her photo project, “Just Me and Allah,” has been featured in Nylon, i-D, Vanity Fair Italia, Vice, and The Washington Post. She works with LGBTQ organizations internationally, raising awareness of issues that impact queer Muslims around the world. We Have Always Been Here is her first book.
Samra is represented by Samantha Haywood.
THE WAKE by Linden MacIntyre (HarperCollins Canada)
Linden MacIntyre was born near a small Newfoundland village called St. Lawrence, a community that was almost completely wiped out by a tsunami in 1929. Twenty-eight people died in that tsunami, hundreds more were injured or left homeless and the town would never be the same again. After transitioning from fishing to mining, it was later discovered that the underground mine was radioactive and killed hundreds of miners. The Wake tells the story of how one wave changed everything for an entire community.
About Linden
Linden MacIntyre’s bestselling first novel, The Long Stretch, was nominated for a CBA LIbris Award and his boyhood memoir, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, won both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize. His second novel, The Bishop’s Man, was a #1 national bestseller, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Dartmouth Book Award and the CBA Libris Fiction Book of the Year Award, among other honours. The third book in the loose-knit trilogy, Why Men Lie, was also a #1 national bestseller as well as a Globe and Mail “Can’t Miss” Book for 2012. MacIntyre, who spent 24 years as the co-host of The Fifth Estate, is a distinguished broadcast journalist who has won ten Gemini awards for his work.
Linden is represented by Shaun Bradley.
THE NORTH-WEST IS OUR MOTHER by Jean Teillet (Patrick Crean Editions/HarperCollins Canada)
The North-West is Our Mother is a history of the Métis Nation. It begins in the early 1800s, when the Métis became known as fierce nomadic hunters, and continues to the late 19th-century resistance led by Riel to reclaim the land stolen from them, all the way to present day as they fight for reconciliation and decolonization.
About Jean
Jean Teillet is the great-grandniece of Louis Riel and an Indigenous rights lawyer. She is the author of Métis Law in Canada and The North-West is Our Mother.
Jean is represented by Samantha Haywood.
A GOOD WIFE by Samra Zafar
When Samra Zafar was 15 years old, she was told by her mother that a great match had been found, and she was to be married — to a man who lived in Canada and was 11 years older than her. Despite having her own dreams and goals, Zafar got married, moved to a new country and started a family. But when her relationship became abusive, Zafar knew she must leave and build a new life for her children.
About Samra
Samra Zafar is an international speaker, human rights activist, scholar, author and social entrepreneur. She also serves as a Governor for the University of Toronto, is pursuing a rewarding corporate career and runs Brave Beginnings, the non-profit organization she founded to support abuse survivors in their journey to build a life of respect and freedom. Her free time is dedicated to her two beautiful daughters and her passion for empowering others through her advocacy and non-profit work.
Samra is represented by Samantha Haywood and Stephanie Sinclair for her literary work and by Rob Firing for her speaking engagements.
Congratulations to the 17 other writers who made the list! For CBC Books‘ full list, please visit: http://bit.ly/357Ysuk