Cherie Dimaline

Nine young-adult submissions have been received for this year’s 2018 CODE Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Young Adult Literature. Lead by Nancy Cooper, the National Reading Campaign’s adjudication coordinator, the peer-assessment committee is comprised of Adina Duffy, Wilfred Burton, and Michelle Corneau. The committee was also joined by Eden Gepner Bourgeois, a 14-year old Cree-Métis youth reader.

Three shortlisted titles will be announced during the 2018 Turtle Island Reads launch event at McGill University in Montreal on Sept. 19. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony in November.

The nine titles that were considered are:

• Chief Lightning Bolt by Daniel N. Paul (Fernwood Press)
• Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones (Annick Press)
• The Journey Forward: Two Novellas on Reconciliation by Richard Van Camp and Monique Gray Smith (McKeller and Martin)
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (Dancing Cat/Cormorant)
• Rez Rebel by Melanie Florence (Lorimer)
• Song of Batoche by Maia Caron (Ronsdale Press)
• Strangers: The Reckoner Triology Book 1 by David A. Robertson (Portage and Main)
• The Tree by the Woodpile by Raymond Yakeleya (Durvile Publications)
• Why the Monster by Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley (Inhabit Media)