Congratulations to Conor Kerr, whose novel AVENUE OF CHAMPIONS (Nightwood Editions), has been longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize!
The Giller Prize highlights the very best in Canadian fiction year after year and awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel, graphic novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The shortlist will be announced on September 27, 2022, and the prize will be announced November 7, 2022.
About AVENUE OF CHAMPIONS
Daniel is a young Métis man searching for a way to exist in a world of lateral violence, intergenerational trauma and systemic racism. Facing obstacles of his own at every turn, he observes and learns from the lived realities of his family members, friends, teachers and lovers. He finds hope in the inherent connection of Indigenous Peoples to the land, and the permanence of culture, language and ceremony in the face of displacement.
Set in Edmonton, this story considers Indigenous youth in relation to the urban constructs and colonial spaces in which they survive — from violence, whitewashing, trauma and racism to language revitalization, relationships with Elders, restaking land claims and ultimately, triumph. Based on Papaschase and Métis oral histories and lived experience, Conor Kerr’s debut novel will not soon be forgotten. (From Nightwood Editions)
Avenue of Champions is a finalist for the 2022 Amazon Canada First Novel Award.
About the author
Conor Kerr is a Métis and Ukrainian educator, writer and harvester. He is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and is descended from the Gladue, Ginther and Quinn families from the Lac Ste. Anne and Fort Des Prairies Métis communities and the Papaschase Cree Nation. Kerr is a harvester and labrador retriever enthusiast. His poem Prairie Ritual was on the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist. Conor is represented by Carolyn Forde.
To see a full list of nominees, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/books/14-canadian-authors-longlisted-for-100k-scotiabank-giller-prize-1.6573339