On June 5 at the Writers' Union Conference in Ottawa, Gibsons' author Sarah Roberts became the recipient of the $10,000 Danuta Gleed Literary Award for her first collection of short stories, Wax Boats (Caitlin Press), judged the best first English-language collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in 2009.
Three judges called the work "truly remarkable," speaking of her versatility and her convincing writing in every conceivable voice: men and women, boys and girls, natives and whites, and likening her to Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town for the modern age.
The literary award is given in celebration of the life of Gleed, a writer whose short fiction won several awards before her death in December 1996, and is offered by John Gleed, in memory of his late wife. It is administered by the Writers' Union of Canada.
Roberts said she was honoured and that it was a significant achievement for her in that it was a peer judged prize. Though news of her win was supposed to be a surprise, it had leaked beforehand, and a thrilled Roberts, who had been planning to attend the conference anyway, anticipated meeting other authors such as Margaret Atwood.
Roberts works at Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, grew up on the Coast and lives with her husband in Gibsons. In many ways this book is a true Coast effort. The stories, though set on the mythical island of Smokecrest, employ characters and settings that are familiar to Coast readers. The collection began when Roberts attended a Sunshine Coast School of Writing workshop in 2001 that was led by Roberts Creek author Andreas Schroeder. She read some of her writing aloud, a piece that later became the Smokecrest story Devil Hunting, to a positive response.
"Many projects were helped along at that workshop," she said later. "It was incredibly powerful."
She also met her mentor and editor Schroeder whom she calls "an amazing teacher and writer."
When the collection had grown into a book, she sought a local publisher, Caitlin Press, run by Vici Johnstone. Although Caitlin has had books nominated for prizes before, this was the first win under Johnstone's tutelage.
"I felt good about her chances when she was nominated, but I was holding my breath for a week," said Johnstone, who has a friendship history with Roberts.
The book will not make a lot of money either for the writer or the publisher, she points out.
"My goal for Sarah was to help push her to the top," Johnstone added.
Roberts will be appearing at the Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt this August as part of the program entitled New Voices along with an old friend of hers, Craig Boyko.
The future may bring more Smoke-crest stories, or Roberts may continue work on a novel. She loves both.
