We invite nominations for the next Alanna Bondar Memorial Book Prize for books published in 2018 and 2019. This biennial award is named in honour of Dr. Alanna F. Bondar (1968-2014), an ecocritic, ecofeminist, poet, teacher, and founding member of The Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada / L’Association pour la literature, l’environment et la culture au Canada (ALECC). Alanna was an Associate Professor of English at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and the author of the narrative poetic work, There are Many Ways to Die While Travelling in Peru (Your Scrivener Press, 2011), as well as many scholarly publications. Alanna was also a passionate educator, writer, gardener, and knitter.

In honour of Alanna, a cash prize of $500 will be adjudicated by an ALECC committee and awarded every two years at the ALECC biennial conference. The prize winner will be announced at ALECC’s 2020 conference, located at the University of Saskatchewan. In the spirit of Alanna Bondar’s own work, the committee seeks to award the prize to provocative, original, and stimulating books on environmental topics. Interdisciplinary works with a broad appeal within and beyond environmental humanities are sought, as are books with the potential to engage a broader public, as well as students across a range of disciplines and levels. Genres can include fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction, scholarly monographs, and edited collections.

Eligible authors must be Canadian or live in Canada. Books may be nominated by publishers or ALECC members. Nominated authors or collection editors must be ALECC or ALECC-affiliated association members by February 1st of the designated prize year. Book submissions in English, French or First Nations languages will be accepted.

The deadline for nominations is Dec. 15, 2019. Written nominations for the 2020 Alanna Bondar Memorial Book Prize including full author information and publisher contact information can be submitted by completing the form available for download at the link below and emailing it to wallacem@queensu.ca. Forms can also be mailed to: Alanna Bondar Memorial Book Prize c/o Molly Wallace, Department of English, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6. Once a nomination is approved, the committee will contact publishers. Publishers are responsible for forwarding 3 copies of the nominated book to the address above for adjudication. 

Please see the ALECC website for more information: https://alecc.ca/alanna-bondar/