Stars this month: Douglas, Parris, Williams and Alexis
| Stan Douglas, left, with Michael Audain awarded the $100,000 Audain Prize for Visual Art. |
By Stephen Weir
Stan Douglas just won a really big one while Amanda Parris, Ian Williams and
André Alexis are
up for a some big ones too! September and early October has been a rewarding
time for four Canadian Caribbean artists, dramtists and writers.
Ten days ago
Vancouver photographic artist Stan
Douglas was awarded the $100,000 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts. It is a Canadian
art award that
recognizes the outstanding achievements of British Columbia's artists. The
Prize is administered by the Audain Art
Museum.
Born in British Columbia to Caribbean parents, 59-year old Stan
Douglas is one of Canada’s most widely celebrated and internationally important
contemporary artists. Best known for his photography, film and video
installations, his art often examines the complexities of social reality and
history.
Just
as the Caribbean Camera was going to print the Governor General Literary Award
shortlists were announced in Ottawa. Amanda Parris who is the host of the
CBC Arts show Exhibitionists, is a finalist in
the drama
category for her script Other
Side of the Game. It is a play about two black women from different decades -
the 1970s and today - who are community
organizers. The Caribbean Camera gave
her play rave reviews when it was performed in 2017.
 |
| Amanda Parris |
In
2014 Parris was named one of Grenada’s Top 40 individuals under the age of 40 (She
was born in England to a Grenadian mother). Her move to Canada as a young
adolescent opened up a new world of opportunities. In 2018 she was named one of
Toronto’s
Most Inspiring Women by Post-City, a Local Hero of Toronto Film by Now Magazine
and the African Heritage Educators Network (AHEN) named their 2018 Student Arts
Award after her
Last week the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s most
prestigious annual prize for a work of fiction announced its shortlist. Six
titles are in the running for the
$100,000 prize.
Trinidadian born poet and writer Ian Williams made the
cut with his new book (his first) Reproduction! The 38-year old’s book tells the story of three generations of a
Caribbean Canadian family living in Scarborough.
 |
| Ian Williams |
Williams
left TandT in 1988 and moved to Brampton with his older brother and
parents. He turned out to be a brilliant student earning his
doctorate in English from the UofT at
just 25 years of age. He is currently an assistant professor of poetry at the
University of British Columbia.
"The Giller will announce the winner at a gala evening event in Toronto on Nov. 18, 2019."
The other big fiction Prize, Canada’s Writer’s Trust also
made an important book announcement. It released the names of the five books in
the running for this year’s $50,000 Fiction Prize.
Trinidadian born André Alexis is one of the
five Canadian authors who have made the shortlist. His new book, Days by Moonlight, is the story of an Ontario botanist who sets out
on a road trip with a professor friend to unearth the story of
the mysterious and perhaps dead poet John Skennen.
Days By Midnight is described as “a journey through an
underworld that looks like southern Ontario, a journey taken during the
"hour of the wolf." Alexis previously won the Rogers Writers'
Trust Fiction Prize in 2015 for Fifteen Dogs.
The winner will be announced at the Writers'
Trust Awards ceremony in Toronto on November 5th.
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