News from Orca Book Publishers

News From Orca Book Publishers
December 2008

News and notes...
(Click on the covers for more info).

Vicky Metcalf Award...

Michael Kusugak has been awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature from the Writer's Trust of Canada. This $20,000 award is to celebrate Michael's "body of work:" Nine books for children since 1989, including this season's The Littlest Sled Dog with illustrations by Vladyana Krykorka.

The 2008 Vicky Metcalf Award jury had this to say about Michael:
"A dynamic linking of memory and place ... Kusugak writes unforgettably of the lived experience of the North: the beauty of the Arctic landscape ... the close-knit life of the Inuit community, the presence of mythic imagery and belief. Kusugak's voice is unique with Inuit diction and metaphor ... Kusugak writes of a unifying spirit of place and culture, offering a living vision of a rich way of life."

Congratulations, Michael!

Season's Greetings...

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best for the holiday season and for the year ahead.
Thanks for helping to make 2008 a successful year for Orca Book Publishers.
In lieu of sending greeting cards, we will be making a donation to Victoria's Mustard Seed Food Bank.

See you in 2009!

And for a preview of next year, the Spring 2009 Catalogue is available here.

Starred Review...

What World is Left, a recent novel from Monique Polak, has just received a starred review from Booklist magazine, the journal of the American Library Association.

The review said of the book "...heartbreaking. An important addition to the Holocaust curriculum." Booklist has also named the book a 2008 "Editor's Choice."

What World Is Left, 978-1-55143-847-4

We want to hear from you...

Feel like telling us how it is? Have something to share? Want free books?
We would love to hear from you. We have put together a little surveyand will be awarding $100 in free books to 3 random responders. Just click here, answer a few questions and free books might be coming your way.

Take the survey.

Cybil Award...

Treason in Eswy, book two in The Warlocks of Talverdin series by K.V. Johansen, has been nominated for a 2008 Cybil Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction (Young Adult).
The Cybils are the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards.
Warden of Greyrock, the next installment in the series is due out in April 2009.

More info...

Another Quick Pick..

Lockdown, an Orca Soundings novel by Diane Tullson, has been nominated for the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list for 2009. YALSA is a division of the American Library Association.
Lockdown joins Down by Norah McClintock, Responsible by Darlene Ryan, Pain and Wastings by Carrie Mac and Middle Row by Sylvia Olsen, as nominees. This list collects new titles of special interest to struggling and reluctant readers.
The final list will be voted on at the ALA Midwinter convention in Denver in January.

Quebec Writer's Federation...

Orphan Ahwak, a novel by Raquel Rivera has won the Children's and Young Adult Literature Prize from the Quebec Writer's Federation.

The St. Albert Gazette said of Orphan Ahwak: "A skillful blend of fact and fiction, Rivera fashions a mesmerizing page-turner that is filled with many touches of early aboriginal life."

Raquel lives in Montreal.

Thanks for reading!
If you want keep up with the latest news from Orca (and really, who wouldn't?) please visit our blog for author updates, awards and pictures of my cat (ok, ok, no cat pictures).