Ottawa Book Awards: Adult / YA Fiction

The Ottawa Book Awards have been celebrating the best of Ottawa literature since 1986.  They have just announced their 2012 short lists. The winners will be announced on October 24th.

Here for your reading consideration are the nominated adult and young adult fiction titles, with descriptions as provided by the Ottawa Book Awards:

Tilt (M)
by Alan Cumyn

As much as Stan Dart wants to hide while adolescence passes, in Alan Cumyn’s Tilt nothing is the same after Janine Igwash crosses his basketball court and disappears into the night. Stan is betrayed by his body, his heart, and his need for whatever stability his exploded family can provide. Tilt delights in the passions, delusions and essential truths of being a sixteen-year-old boy. 


Alone in the Classroom (M) 
by Elizabeth Hay

Alone in the Classroom is a novel about how the past resides in the present. At its heart is a love-and-hate triangle between a principal, a teacher and a student. In the background, but ultimately coming to the fore, is the mysterious rape and murder of a young girl in the Ottawa Valley. 


Requiem (M)
by Frances Itani

In Requiem, Bin Okuma, a visual artist, journeys into his past and crosses Canada by car with his faithful hound, Basil, in tow. The journey leads him towards First Father and into stored memories of childhood in an internment camp in B.C.’s mountainous interior; of family; of marriage to Lena and the importance of music and art to their lives.