The winners of the 2023 Atlantic Book Awards were announced at a gala at Halifax Central Library on June 7.

The winners were chosen from finalists announced in April. In addition to the six book awards, the evening also included the presentation of the 2023 Atlantic Legacy Award, which honours those who have made a lasting contribution to the development of the literary arts in Atlantic Canada. This year’s winner was the Raddall family of Liverpool, Nova Scotia. The late Dr. Thomas Raddall was key to establishing and funding the $30,000 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award in honour of his father, author Thomas Head Raddall.

The winners of this year’s awards are:

Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction

• Elaine McCluskey, Rafael Has Pretty Eyes (Goose Lane Editions)

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature

• Nicola Davison, Decoding Dot Grey (Nimbus Publishing)

APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award

• Goose Lane Editions with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Wabanaki Modern / Wabanaki Kiskukewey / Wabanaki Moderne by Emma Hassencahl-Perley & John Leroux

Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing

• Carol Lynne D’Arcangelis, The Solidarity Encounter: Women, Activism, and Creating Non-Colonizing Relations (UBC Press)

J. M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award

• Nanci Lee, Hsin (Brick Books)

Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award

• K. R. Byggdin, Wonder World (Enfield & Wizenty/Great Plains Publications)