The shortlist for the biennial Kobzar Book Award was announced by the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko on Oct. 31.

The $25,000 prize recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by authors who write on a topic with a connection to the experiences of Ukrainian Canadians. The winning author receives $20,000 and the book’s publisher receives $5,000.

The winner will be announced in Winnipeg on March 21, 2024.

This year’s jury is composed of Kate Edwards, Carol Holmes, and Maria Reva, the 2022 award winner.

The shortlist includes young adult fiction, graphic novel, literary fiction, nonfiction, and academic titles:

• Five Stalks of Grain by Adrian Lysenko and Ivanka Theodosia Galadza, ill. (University of Calgary Press)
• Ghosts in a Photograph by Myrna Kostash (NeWest Press)
• The Taste of Hunger by Barbara Joan Scott (Freehand Books)
• Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies: Growing a Ukrainian Canadian Identity by Natalie Kononenko (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
• Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation by Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (HarperCollins)
• Winterkill by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (Scholastic Press)