TORONTO 鈥� Alicia Elliott has won the prestigious Amazon Canada First Novel Award.
She took home the $60,000 prize for "And Then She Fell," which follows an Indigenous woman made to feel like an impostor in her wealthy Toronto neighbourhood while she tires to write a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.
Elliott is a Mohawk writer who lives in Brantford, Ont.
She was previously shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers鈥� Trust Prize for Nonfiction for her memoir "A Mind Spread Out on the Ground."
Runners-up, who each receive $6,000, are "Empty Spaces" by Jordan Abel; K艒tuku Titihuia Nuttall for "Tauhou;" "The Berry Pickers" by Amanda Peters; Janika Oza's "A History of Burning;" and "As the Andes Disappeared," written by Caroline Dawson and translated by Anita Anand.
Billy-Ray Belcourt, one of this year's judges, says the short list offers a "panoramic view of the novel in 21st century Canada."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2024.
The Canadian Press
