CODE announced the three titles shortlisted for the 2018 CODE Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Young Adult Literature during the 2018 Turtle Island Reads launch event at McGill University on September 19, 2018.
The three titles, selected from a longlist of nine titles, includes BC-published The Journey Forward Two Novellas on Reconciliation by Richard Van Camp and Monique Gray Smith (McKeller and Martin). The other two titles are Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones and The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. The winner will be announced during the award ceremony on November 28 in Manawaki, Quebec.
Van Camp’s story, When We Play Our Drums, They Sing!, follows 12-year-old Dene Cho, who when he finds himself in trouble at school, is excused for four days to learn about his Tłı̨chǫ Dene culture with a local Elder. In Lucy and Lola by Monique Gray Smith, twin sisters spend the summer with their Kookum (grandmother) and find themselves on a journey of reconciliation following a confrontation at the beach.