Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature

The Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature is a Canadian literary award relaunched in 2016 and presented annually by Toronto’s Koffler Centre of the Arts. The Awards honour the best Jewish Canadian writing in four categories, each with an annual prize of $10,000: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adult/Children’s Literature, and History. A fifth $10,000 prize for Poetry is awarded every three years. The Awards consider submissions from both print and digital sources (including books, e-books, graphic novels, digital storytelling, and a variety of media). Writers must be Canadian or the submission must have significant Canadian content. Writers must be Jewish or the submission must have significant or predominantly Jewish content.^[1]

A professional jury of three individuals working in the arts and media oversee the award selection process. The shortlist for the inaugural Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature was announced on September 15, 2016. The winners were announced on September 29, 2016.

History

The original Canadian Jewish Book Awards were founded in 1988 by Adam Fuerstenberg. In 1994, the Koffler Centre of the Arts took over the Awards management. From 2004-2014 – with the support of a donation from Lillian and Norman Glowinsky – the Awards were renamed the Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards. In 2015, the Koffler Centre of the Arts put the Awards on hiatus for one year in order to reframe the program. The resulting Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature continues Fuerstenberg’s original ambition, “bringing increased awareness of the Canadian Jewish canon to the public, as well as supporting and celebrating Canadian books and writers.”^[2]

The Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature are supported by a donation by the Lillian and Norman Glowinsky Family Foundation.^[3]

Shortlists and Winners

Year	Winners	Shortlist
2016 Jury: Pierre Anctil, Devyani Saltzman, Laurence Siegel	FICTION David Bezmozgis, The Betrayers NON-FICTION Mark Celinscak, Distance from the Belsen Heap: Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Nazi Concentration Camp HISTORY Beverley Chalmers, Birth, Sex and Abuse: Women’s Voices under Nazi Rule CHILDREN’S/YOUNG ADULT Emil Sher, Young Man with Camera POETRY Daniel Goodwin, Catullus’s Soldiers [4]	FICTION David Bezmozgis, The Betrayers Joseph Kertes, The Afterlife of Stars Sean Michaels, Us Conductors Mireille Silcoff, Chez L’Arabe NON-FICTION Bob Bossin, Davy the Punk Mark Celinscak, Distance from the Belsen Heap: Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Nazi Concentration Camp Daniel J. Levitin, The Organized Mind Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Monkeys, Myths and Molecules HISTORY Beverley Chalmers, Birth, Sex and Abuse: Women’s Voices under Nazi Rule Andrew Cohen, Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours that Made History Maria Noriega Rachwal, From Kitchen to Carnegie Hall: Ethel Stark and the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra Ira Robinson, A History of Antisemitism in Canada CHILDREN’S/YOUNG ADULT Emil Sher, Young Man with Camera Shelly Sanders, Rachel’s Hope Eva Wiseman, The World Outside Frieda Wishinsky, illustrations by Willow Dawson, Avis Dolphin POETRY Daniel Goodwin, Catullus’s Soldiers Seymour Mayne, Cusp Word Sonnets Ruth Panofsky, The Collected Poems of Miriam Waddington Rachel Zolf, Janey’s Arcadia

External links

• Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature
• Koffler Centre of the Arts

References

1. "Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature re-launch with 5 prizes worth $10K". CBC.ca, February 23, 2016
2. "About". kofflerarts.org.
3. "Two Jewish Literary Awards Provide More Opportunities". Canadian Jewish News, March 8, 2016.
4. "Winners". kofflerarts.org.