The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards shortlist has been announced. During even years the awards honour fiction and children’s/young adult fiction; during odd years, poetry and non-fiction. Only residents of Newfoundland and Labrador are eligible to win.

This year’s list of finalists for the Newfoundland and Labrador Non-fiction Award are all first-time authors:

• Alan Doyle for Where I Belong: From Small Town to Great Big Sea (Doubleday Canada)
• Janet Merlo for No One to Tell: Breaking My Silence on Life in the RCMP (Breakwater Books)
• Andrew Peacock for Creatures of the Rock (Doubleday Canada)

Three acclaimed Newfoundland poets are shortlisted for the E.J. Pratt Poetry Award:

• Michael Crummey for Under the Keel (House of Anansi Press)
• Mary Dalton for Hooking (Véhicule Press)
• Carmelita McGrath for Escape Velocity (Goose Lane Editions)

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 27 at Government House. Winning authors each receive a cash prize: $1,500 for first place and a $500 for each of the other shortlisted authors.