Pulitzer Prize 2019 winners

The winners of this year's Pulitzer Prizes have been announced. The Prizes, named after 19th century newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, honour excellence in journalism and the arts, and are awarded annually.

The Pulitzers are divided into many categories, and the finalists and winners of every category can be found on the Pulitzer Prize website. Of particular note to the world of books are the following 2019 winners:

• Fiction: The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Drama: Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury
• History: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
• Biography: The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart
• Poetry: Be With by Forrest Gander
• General Nonfiction: Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold

Congratulations to all of the winners! For more details on the Pulitzers, see the official website.

Manitoba Book Awards 2019 finalists

The nominees for the 2019 Manitoba Book Awards have been revealed! These awards are divided into eleven categories that recognize excellence in Manitoba writing, book design, and publishing.

The winners will be announced and celebrated at 7 PM on May 3, 2019, at a gala in their honour. This celebration takes place at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and tickets are on sale now for $20 per person. For more information, please visit the Manitoba Book Awards website.

The lists of nomineese can be found after the jump.

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April's Author of the Month: RUTH REICHL

Ruth Reichl is an American chef, food writer, co-producer of PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS's Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth, and the last editor-in-chief of the now shuttered Gourmet magazine.

Reichl began writing about food in 1972, when she published Mmmmm: A Feastiary. Since then, she has authored the critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, Garlic and Sapphires, and For You Mom, Finally, which have been translated into 18 languages. In 2014 she published her first novel: Delicious!

She is known for her ability to "make or break" a restaurant. For Reichl, her mission has been to "demystify the world of fine cuisine." She has won acclaim with both readers and writers alike for her honesty about many aspects of haute cuisine. Through an outsider's perspective, she harshly criticized the sexism prevalent toward women in dine-out experiences, as well as the pretentious nature of the ritziest New York restaurants.

Ruth Reichl spearheaded a revolution in the way we think about food. Here in Save Me the Plums, for the first time, she chronicles the personal and professional risks she took during her tenure as the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine in this insightful, inspiring and very readable new memoir. But this is not just the tale of a magazine; it is also a story about taking a professional leap of faith, following your passion and holding onto your dreams — even when nothing works out the way you’d expected. (Hardcover. $32.00. RRC Price $28.80. Random House. April)

Canada Reads 2019 winner

Ziya Tong, who championed Max Eisen's Holocaust memoir By Chance Alone, is the winner of Canada Reads 2019.

Published in 2016, By Chance Alone recounts Eisen's own traumatic memories of his family's imprisonment in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War.

Tong, a science journalist and herself an author, passionately defended By Chance Alone during four days of vigorous literary debates, proving to us all why the memoir is "the one book that will move all Canadians". She was ultimately decided as winner by the panellists during the final debate on March 28, 2019, thus beating out runner-up Chuck Comeau who was defending Homes, the memoir of Abu Bakr al Rabeeah written with Winnie Yeung.

The other three books that were part of Canada Reads 2019 included David Chariandy's Brother, defended by Lisa Ray; by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette's Suzanne, defended by Yanic Truesdale; and Lindsay Wong's The Woo Woo, defended by Joe Zee. The debates were hosted by Ali Hassan.

To read more about Canada Reads, and to stream the debates online, visit CBC's website.