Kobzar Literary Award - Shandi Mitchell's Under This Unbroken Sky

Nova Scotia based author and filmmaker Shandi Mitchell continues to receive recognition for her wonderful debut novel Under This Unbroken Sky (M). Already having won a host of awards, such as the regional Commonwealth Writer's Prize for First Novel and The Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, Shandi can now add the Kobzar Literary Award to her mantelpiece.

"The Kobzar Literary Award recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by authors who develop a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit in one of several genres: literary non-fiction, fiction, poetry, young readers' literature, plays, screenplays and musicals."

Here is what the judges had to say:

"A compelling and poignant narrative that honours the ancestry of many Canadian Ukrainians. During the depression era, Mitchell's memorable characters valiantly face betrayal and every hardship that prairie life renders in their search for a better life."

The other finalists for the 2012 Kobzar award were:

Prodigal Daughter: a journey to Byzantium (M)
by Myrna Kostash

The Knife Sharpener's Bell (M)
by Rhea Tregebov

Jews in Ukrainian Literature
by Myroslav Shkandrij

Mammoth
by Larissa Andrusyshyn