Prairie Fire contest winners

All winning entries will appear in the summer 2010 issue of Prairie Fire.

Winners of the 2009 Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award writing contest,
judged by Don Domanski:

First Prize:
Nora Gould, Consort, AB: "Some nights he breathed up all the air."

Second Prize:
Susan Steudel, Vancouver, BC: "Moon Picture"

Third Prize:
Méira Cook, Winnipeg, MB: "His Spring"

Honourable Mention:
W.F. Lantry, Silver Spring, MD: "Aubade"

Winners of the 2009 Fiction contest,
judged by Warren Cariou:

First Prize:
Jay Brown, Victoria, BC: "The Girl from the War"

Second Prize:
Trevor Corkum, Vancouver, BC: "Notes Toward a Film About My Childhood"

Third Prize:
Cheryl Runke, Toronto, ON: "Berehynia"

Honourable Mention:
Norman Ravvin, Montreal, QC: "Boy Meets Dummy"

Winners of the 2009 Creative Non-Fiction Writing Contest,
judged by Charles Wilkins:

First Prize:
Jay Torrence, Vancouver, BC: "Poster Children"

Second Prize:
Kirsty Cameron, Brandon, MB: "River Stitched "

Third Prize:
Naomi K. Lewis, Calgary, AB: "Say Water"

Honourable Mention:
Nazanine Hozar, Vancouver, BC: "When Zahra Calls"

Congratulations to all!

Prairie Fire editor Andris Taskans
was presented with the Making a Difference Award at the Mayor's Luncheon for the Arts in Winnipeg on June 11, 2009.

Congratulations, Andris!

Prairie Fire writers honoured at 2009 awards ceremonies

At the National Magazine Awards, Alex Leslie won the Gold Award in the Personal Journalism category for her essay "Prehistory" published in Prairie Fire 29.2. Honourable mention in the same category was awarded to Laura Trunkey for "Pennies in My Pocket: Stories of My Brother" (29.2). Laura was also shortlisted for the Best Student Writer award. In the Essays category, Sheri Benning was awarded honourable mention for "Watching Woman: The Marysburg Project" (29.1). And in the Poetry category, honourable mentions went to Barry Dempster and to Sylvia Legris, whose poems appeared in 28.4 and 29.3 respectively.

In the Fiction category at the Western Magazine Awards, honourable mentions were awarded to Buffy Cram for "Loveseat" and to Nadine McInnis for "Heart of Blue, Glowing," both published in 29.2. In the Gold Award for Best Article--Manitoba, honourable mentions were garnered by Sarah Klassen for "Tanya's Dinner Party (1997)" and by Jake MacDonald for "Do You Wish to Report a Nuisance Alligator?," both published in 29.1. Finally, Prairie Fire was shortlisted for the Magazine of the Year--Manitoba award.

Congratulations to all!

Prairie Fire editor Andris Taskans
was presented with the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 26th annual Western Magazine Awards in Richmond, BC on May 22, 2008.

From judge Zsuzsi Gartner's comments:
"Thirty years is a long time in any field, but 30 years spent maintaining the unflagging enthusiasm, requisite drive and crazy juggling acts that are necessary to keep a literary magazine not just alive but thriving is an almost heroic endeavour. Prairie Fire has been a quality publication for a long time, and that kind of consistency is always a reault of a dedicated and talented editor. While Andris Taskans has managed to give Prairie Fire a strong national profile, a number of his off-shoot initiatives have made the Manitoba writing and magazine scene infinitely richer."

The Winnipeg Connection: Writing Lives
at Mid-Century
edited by Birk Sproxton
is still available!

Price: $29.95. 384 pages, with photos.
Available from Prairie Fire Press, prfire@mts.net

Carol Shields: The Arts of a Writing Life
edited by Neil K. Besner

ISBN 0-9731608-0-2

Available now in better bookstores! Price: $18.95

This beautiful book represents Prairie Fire Press's first venture into book publishing. It is a rich collection of essays, memoirs, and interviews, written by literary critics on both sides of the Atlantic, and by friends, former teachers, and family. The articles range generously in tone and style from the scholarly to the personal, with an essay on her mother by Carol's daughter Anne Giardini, pieces by writers who have worked with Carol, including Blanche Howard and Dave Williamson, and warm essays by friends of Carol's, such as Maggie Dwyer. It features a piece by Shields herself on what a writing life means to her.


Carol Shields: The Arts of a Writing Life was recognized by the Manitoba Writers' Guild and the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers with a nomination for the 2004 Manitoba Writing and Publishing Awards. The book was shortlisted for the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction. The Isbister Award is presented annually to the Manitoba writer whose book is judged the best book of adult non-fiction written in English and published in 2003. The award was created and is sponsored by the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism.

For more or updated information on any of the above, please contact Prairie Fire:
Phone : 204-943-9066
Fax: 204-942-1555
E-mail: prfire@mts.net