Amanda Peters

Canadian writer

Amanda Peters is a Canadian writer from Falmouth, Nova Scotia,[1] whose debut novel The Berry Pickers was the winner of the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction,[2] 2023 Barnes and Noble Discovery Prize[3], 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence,[4] and 2024 Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction.[5]

Of mixed European and Mi'kmaq heritage, Peters was born and raised in the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia as a member of the Glooscap First Nation.[6] She was nominated for an Indigenous Voices Award in the Unpublished English Prose category in 2019 for her short story "Pejipug (Winter Arrives)", and won in the same category in 2021 for "Waiting for the Long Night Moon".

The Berry Pickers centres on a young Mi'kmaw girl who goes missing in Maine, depicting the event's lifelong effects on both her birth family and the girl herself, who grows up as the adopted child of a white family with no knowledge of her origins.[7] The novel was published in early 2023 by Harper Perennial.[6] In addition to its Carnegie Award win, the book was a shortlisted finalist for the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[8], the 2024 Amazon.ca First Novel Award.[9], the 2024 Thomas Head Raddall Award, and the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Fiction.[10]

Her debut short story collection, Waiting for the Long Night Moon, is forthcoming.[11]

References

  1. ^ Maryam Gowralli, "An Interview with Amanda Peters". Filling Station, September 12, 2022.
  2. ^ Hillel Italie, "Roxanna Asgarian's 'We Were Once a Family' and Amanda Peters' 'The Berry Pickers' win library medals". Airdrie City View, January 20, 2024.
  3. ^ Amanda Peters Author, "Awards and Recognitions", May 31, 2024
  4. ^ Crime Writers of Canada, "Crime Writers of Canada Announces the 2024 Awards of Excellence Winners", May 29, 2024
  5. ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Amanda Peters, Karen Pinchin among 2024 Nova Scotia Book Awards winners". Quill & Quire, June 5, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Jason Molloy, "Falmouth, N.S., resident Amanda Peters ready to release debut novel, The Berry Pickers". SaltWire Network, April 4, 2023.
  7. ^ "The Berry Pickers". Kirkus Reviews, August 26, 2023.
  8. ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Three debut novels among finalists for 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize". Quill & Quire, September 27, 2023.
  9. ^ Cassandra Drudi, "2024 Amazon First Novel Award shortlist revealed". Quill & Quire, May 9, 2024.
  10. ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Finalists for Nova Scotia Book Awards and Atlantic Book Awards announced". Quill & Quire, April 15, 2024.
  11. ^ Elizabeth Mitchell, "‘The Berry Pickers’ Examines Hope’s Joy and Pain After a Little Girl’s Disappearance". Everything Zoomer, March 31, 2023.


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