Nanaimo native Tamas Dobozy is a finalist for the $25,000 Rogers Writers' Trust of Canada Fiction Prize, it was announced Wednesday.
Dobozy is shortlisted for his short story collection, Siege 13, published by Thomas Allen Publishers. He currently lives in Kitchener, Ont., and teaches at Wilfrid Laurier Univerisity.
This year's crop of finalists includes Montreal-based author Rawi Hage, who made the shortlist for his novel Carnival, and Montreal-born author Alix Ohlin for Inside, which is also on the longlist for the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Linda Spalding, who has previously made the Writers' Trust non-fiction short list, is now a finalist for the fiction prize for her novel The Purchase. The Writers' Trust fiction list is rounded out by renowned Edmonton-based poet and novelist Tim Bowling for The Tinsmith.
The prize offers $2,500 to each finalist and a total of $25,000 to the eventual winner.
This year's jury members included authors Esi Edugyan of Victoria, Lynn Coady and Drew Hayden Taylor.
They read 116 books from 45 publishers.
The Writers' Trust of Canada is a charitable organization founded by authors including Margaret Atwood and the late Pierre Berton.
It also announced three finalists for the $10,000 Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, recognizing new and developing writers, including an entry that was published in Victoria's Malahat Review.
Kevin Hardcastle's To Have to Wait is joined by Andrew Hood's Manning (PRISM international); and Alex Pugsley for Crisis on Earth-X (The Dalhousie Review).
Both prizes, along with four aditional awards for a body of work, will be presented on Nov. 7 in Toronto.
Total prize money presented that night will amount to $114,000.
