Nelson Ball

The shortlist has been announced for the inaugural Nelson Ball Prize. The prize, named for the late Paris, Ontario, poet, publisher, and bookseller Nelson Ball, is awarded for “poetry of observation” that was published in 2018 or 2019. Toronto writer and editor Beverley Daurio and James McDonald, publisher and bookseller at The Printed Word in Dundas, Ontario, served as jurors.

The winner of the $1,000 prize will be announced Dec. 14. This year is the first of a three-year cycle. In the first and second year, the award will be presented to a published work. In the third year the award will be presented to a Canadian who has made an “under-the-radar” contribution to Canadian literature.

The shortlisted works follow.

• The Book of Annotations, Cameron Anstee (Invisible Publishing)
• Braille Rainbow, Mike Barnes (Biblioasis)
• Yellow Crane, Susan Gillis (Brick Books)
• 77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin, Thomas King (HarperCollins)
• Branches, Mark Truscott (Book*hug Press)