Amanda Peters

Canadian writer

Amanda Peters is a Canadian writer from Falmouth, Nova Scotia,[1] whose debut novel The Berry Pickers was the winner of the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction,.[2] 2023, Barnes and Noble Discovery Prize, [3] and 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence. [4].

Of mixed European and Mi'kmaq heritage, Peters was born and raised in the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia as a member of the Glooscap First Nation.[5] She was nominated for an Indigenous Voices Award in the Unpublished English Prose category in 2019 for her short story "Pejipug (Winter Arrives)", and won in the same category in 2021 for "Waiting for the Long Night Moon".

The Berry Pickers centres on a young indigenous girl who goes missing in Maine, depicting the event's lifelong effects on both her birth family and the girl herself, who grows up as the adopted child of a white family with no knowledge of her origins.[6] The novel was published in early 2023 by Harper Perennial.[5] In addition to its Carnegie Award win, the book was a shortlisted finalist for the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[7] and the 2024 Amazon.ca First Novel Award.[8]

Her debut short story collection, Waiting for the Long Night Moon, is forthcoming.[9]

References

  1. ^ Maryam Gowralli, "An Interview with Amanda Peters". Filling Station, September 12, 2022.
  2. ^ Hillel Italie, "Roxanna Asgarian's 'We Were Once a Family' and Amanda Peters' 'The Berry Pickers' win library medals". Airdrie City View, January 20, 2024.
  3. ^ Amanda Peters Author, "Awards and Recognitions", May 31, 2024
  4. ^ Crime Writers of Canada, "Crime Writers of Canada Announces the 2024 Awards of Excellence Winners", May 29, 2024
  5. ^ a b Jason Molloy, "Falmouth, N.S., resident Amanda Peters ready to release debut novel, The Berry Pickers". SaltWire Network, April 4, 2023.
  6. ^ "The Berry Pickers". Kirkus Reviews, August 26, 2023.
  7. ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Three debut novels among finalists for 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize". Quill & Quire, September 27, 2023.
  8. ^ Cassandra Drudi, "2024 Amazon First Novel Award shortlist revealed". Quill & Quire, May 9, 2024.
  9. ^ Elizabeth Mitchell, "‘The Berry Pickers’ Examines Hope’s Joy and Pain After a Little Girl’s Disappearance". Everything Zoomer, March 31, 2023.


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