Pajama Press

We are thrilled to extend our congratulations to Jan L. Coates and Suzanne Del Rizzo, the author and illustrator of Sky Pig. This inventive picture book about a pig who wants—against all popular truisms—to fly has won the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. This is Coates’ and Del Rizzo’s first time being nominated for the award.

Jan Coates accepted the award Thursday night at the 8th annual Atlantic Book Awards Gala, hosted at Paul O’Reagan Hall in Halifax. The Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration, named for a long-time buyer for the now inoperative independent bookstore, The Book Room, is one of ten major prizes awarded at the gala each year. This is the first award win for Sky Pig, which is also nominated for the 2017 Shining Willow Award, and is a 2016 Best Books for Kids and Teens selection.

Pajama Press would also like to congratulate all the other award nominees and winners of the evening. Our nominated titles were in such good company; it is an honour to be recognized alongside some of the best artists and books rooted in Atlantic Canada.

Pajama Press thanks the Atlantic Book Awards for their continued dedication to promoting excellence in Atlantic Canadian writing and book publishing.

Pajama Press is proud to congratulate Jill MacLean, whose young adult novel Nix Minus One has won the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature. The award was presented yesterday at the Atlantic Book Awards gala in Charlottetown, PEI, following a week-long festival with events across the Atlantic provinces.

A powerful story about a teenaged boy growing up in small-town Newfoundland, Nix Minus One has also been nominated for the CLA Young Adult Book of the Year, the White Pine Award, and the Snow Willow Award, among other honours.

A second Pajama Press title, The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette, was also shortlisted for this award. Both authors are residents of Nova Scotia.

The Ann Conner Brimer Award is given annually “to the author of a children’s book which has made an outstanding contribution to children’s

literature in Atlantic Canada” (www.atlanticbookawards.ca). This is the third time a book by Jill MacLean has been selected.

Pajama Press is honoured to have Nix Minus One chosen for this prestigious award.

Authors Meghan Marentette, Janet Cameron, Jan Coates, and Jill MacLean at the gala

The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette and Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean have both been selected for a 3-title shortlist for the Ann Connor Brimer Award.

The Ann Connor Brimer Award is part of the Atlantic Book Awards Festival, which will be celebrated at events across the four Atlantic provinces the week of May 14. Winners will be announced at a Charlottetown gala on May 21. Both authors will participate in a series of events leading up to the gala.

Congratulations Meghan and Jill!