The titles shortlisted for the ninth annual New Brunswick Book Awards have been announced by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB).

The finalists are:

Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction

• Valerie Sherrard, Standing on Neptune (DCB/Cormorant Books)
• Lisa Alward, Cocktail (Biblioasis)
• Luke Francis Beirne, Blacklion (Baraka Books)

Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Children’s Writing

• Braelyn Cyr, Apli’kmuj’s Journey (Monster House Publishing)
• Gail Francis, Moonbeam (Monster House Publishing), illustrated by Tara Audibert
• Sara O’Leary, The Little Books of the Little Brontës (Tundra), illustrated by Briony May Smith

The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize

• Matthew Gwathmey, Tumbling for Amateurs (Coach House Books)
• Allan Cooper, The Face of Everything (Pottersfield Press)
• Fawn Parker, Soft Inheritance (Palimpsest Press)

Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Nonfiction Award

• Valerie Sherrard and Natalie Hyde, More than Words: Navigating the Complex World of Communication (DCB Young Readers), illustrated by David Jardine
• Anne Koval, Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision (Goose Lane Publishing)
• Jason Bell, Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada’s Greatest Spy (Harper Collins)

The New Brunswick Book Awards are open to traditionally published and self-published authors who have lived in the province for three of the last five years, including the award year.

The awards program is administered by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB). Donna Morrissey, Deborah Kerbel, Bertrand Bickersteth, and Madhur Anand served as judges for the prizes. The awards ceremony will take place in Moncton on June 1, as part of WFNB’s annual writing festival, WordSpring.