About the Dartmouth Book Awards
The Dartmouth Book Awards honour Nova Scotian literature and recognize the valuable contribution writers make to our cultural heritage. Two prizes of $1500 each are awarded - one for fiction and one for non-fiction.
The Dartmouth Book and Writing Awards were established in 1988 by the then Mayor of Dartmouth, Dr. John P. Savage, with the financial support of corporations interested in the province's artistic life. The intent was to honour Nova Scotian fiction and non-fiction by Canadian authors. The awards are administered by a steering committee composed of representatives from the Halifax Public Libraries, the Halifax Regional Municipality and members of the community. The Dartmouth Book Award for fiction is sponsored by Jarislowsky-Fraser Ltd. and the non-fiction award is sponsored by Seamark Asset Management Ltd.
Click here for Eligibility Criteria
The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
The Margaret and John Savage First book Award, presented for the first time in 2003, recognizes the best first book of fiction or non-fiction written by a first time book published author in Atlantic Canada. Margaret and John Savage were instrumental in establishing the Dartmouth Book and Writing Awards in 1988. As the then Mayor of Dartmouth John Savage arranged the funding of the initial fiction and non-fiction awards. Margaret not only assisted in the arrangements of the book and writing awards, but as well, served the patrons of the Alderney Gate library community as a volunteer attending to the needs of those unable to visit the library and benefit from its many services. Dartmouth and the large municipal and provincial communities have benefitted enormously from the support for writers, books, reading and cultural pursuits in general that have been synonymous with the lives of Margaret and John. Naming the "First Book Award" in their honour is a small but significant tribute to their contributions.
In 2004, the John and Margaret Savage Humanities Endowment (under the aegis of Dalhousie Medical School’s Medical Humanities program) was created to fund projects supported by Margaret and John. The endowment funds the music and medicine program at the Dalhousie Medical School, the John Savage Medical Clinic in Niger and the First Book Award.
Click here for Eligibility Criteria
Dartmouth Book Award Winners:
2009:
Fiction - Anne Simpson for Falling
Non-Fiction - William D. Naftel for Halifax at War
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Ian Colford for Evidence |
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2008 :
Fiction - Beatrice MacNeil for Where White Horses Gallop
Non-Fiction - Marq de Villiers for Witch in the Wind: The True Story of the Legendary Bluenose
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Stephanie Domet for Homing: the whole story ( from the inside out) |
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2007:
Fiction - Linda Little, for "Scotch River"
Non-Fiction - Keith McLaren, for "A Race for Real Sailors"
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award -
John G. Langley for "Steam Lion - A Biography of Samuel Cunard" |
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2006:
Fiction -
George Elliott Clarke, for "George and Rue"
Non-Fiction -
Laura M. MacDonald, for "Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award -
Tom Gallant, for "A Hard Chance: Sailing Into the Heart of Love"
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2005:
Fiction - Jonathan Campbell for Tarcadia
Non-fiction - Paul Erickson for Historic North End Halifax
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Jonathan Campbell for Tarcadia |
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2004:
Fiction - Leo McKay Jr. for Twenty-Six
Non-fiction - Elizabeth Pacey for Miracle on Brunswick Street
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Beth Ryan for What is Invisible |
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2003:
Fiction - Beatrice MacNeil for Butterflies Dance in the Dark
Non-fiction - Stephen Kimber for Sailors, Slacker and Blind Pigs, Halifax at War
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Dan Falk for Universe on a T-Shirt
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2002:
Fiction - David Doucette for Strong at the Broken Places
Non-fiction - Kate Langan for The Art of Worship
Cunard First Book Award - Linda Little for Strong Hollow
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2001:
Fiction - Carol Bruneau for Purple for Sky
Non-fiction - Harry Chapman for In the Wake of the Alderney
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2000:
Fiction - Alistair MacLeod for No Great Mischief
Non-fiction - David Frank for J.B. MacLachlan: a Biography
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1999:
Fiction - Lynn Coady for Strange Heaven
Non-fiction - James Mahar, Rowena Mahar for Too Many to Mourn: One Family's Tragedy in the Halifax Explosion
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1998:
Fiction - Betty Boudreau for I'll Buy You an Ox
Non-fiction - Merritt Gibson for The Old Place
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1997:
Fiction - Ann-Marie MacDonald for Fall on Your Knees
Non-fiction - Lance Woolaver, Bob Brooks for The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis
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1996:
Fiction - Leo McKay Jr for Like This: Stories
Non-fiction - J.R.C. Perkin for Ordinary Magic
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1995:
Fiction - Lesley Choyce for Republic of Nothing
Non-fiction - Dean Jobb for Calculated Risk
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1994:
Fiction - Beatrice MacNeil for Moonlight Skater
Non-fiction - (tie) Daniel Paul for We Were Not the Savages and Leslie Smith Dow for Adele Hugo: La Miserable
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1993:
Fiction - Robert MacNeil for Burden of Desire
Non-fiction - Sally Ross/Alphonse Deveau for Acadians of Nova Scotia
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1992:
Fiction - (tie) Donna Smyth for Loyalist Runaway and Kim Atwood for Two of Me
Non-fiction - Silver Donald Cameron for Wind, Whales and Whiskey
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1991:
Fiction - Budge Wilson for The Leaving
Non-fiction - Harry Thurston for Tidal Life
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1990:
Fiction - Lesley Choyce for The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson
Non-fiction - Claude Bissell for Ernest Buckler, Remembered
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1989:
Harry Bruce for Down Home
(in the award's first year, there were no fiction and non-fiction categories)
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