Christian Bök (photo: Radim Rybacek)

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta has announced the finalists for this year’s Alberta Literary Awards, celebrating the best works by the province’s authors in eight categories.

The following shortlists were selected from more than 200 submissions:

Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction

• Tracey Lindberg, Birdie (HarperCollins Canada)
• Bradley Somer, Fishbowl (St. Martin’s Press)
• Richard Van Camp, Night Moves (Enfield & Wizenty)

Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Non-fiction

• Stephen Bown, White Eskimo: Knud Rasmussen’s Fearless Journey Into the Heart of the Arctic (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Will Ferguson, Road Trip Rwanda: A Journey into the New Heart of Africa (Viking Canada)
• Andrew Nikiforuk, Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry (Greystone Books)

Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry

• Jalal Barzanji; Sabah A. Salih, trans.; Trying Again to Stop Time (University of Alberta Press)
• Christian Bök, The Xenotext: Book 1 (Coach House Books)
• Marilyn Dumont, The Pemmican Eaters (ECW Press)
• Alice Major, Standard Candles (University of Alberta Press)

R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature

• Kate A. Boorman, Winterkill (Abrams/Amulet Press)
• Sigmund Brouwer, Thief of Glory (WaterBrook Press)
• Lorna Schultz Nicholson, Fragile Bones: Harrison and Anna (Clockwise Press)

Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story

• Kate French, “Spiders” (FreeFall)
• Richard Van Camp, “Born a Girl” (Enfield & Wizenty)
• Thomas Wharton, “Filters” (FreeFall)

James H. Gray Award for Short Non-fiction

• Marcello Di Cintio, “The Gifted Tag” (Swerve)
• Jane Harris, “The Unheard Patient” (Alberta Views)
• Julie Sedivy, “The Strange Persistence of First Languages” (Nautilus)

Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama

• Beth Graham, The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble
• Rose Scollard, Nancy Jo Cullen, and Alexandria Patienc,  Aphra
• David van Belle and Eric Rose, The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst

Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award

• Ali Bryan,“Let’s Talk”
• Diana Davidson,“An Ex-Wife’s Tale”
• Elizabeth Withey, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Awards will be presented at a gala at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary June 4, in conjunction with the WGA’s annual conference.