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Leacock Medal Shortlisting
For Immediate Release: 30 March 2005
Stone Pillow Press is pleased to announce that the new "Hap Fitzpatrick book";-the third offering by Alberni farmer-writer Bob Collins-is in the running for a national book award. For the second time in his writing career, Alberni Valley author Bob Collins has been notified that one of his books is shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Collins' first book, Out Standing in Their Field: The Rural Adventures of Hap & Edna, was a magnificently funny book of short stories and was shortlisted for the Leacock Medal for Humour in 2001. This time, it's for his first full-length novel, Summer of Wonder: The Misguided Romance of Hap Fitzpatrick. The setting of "Summer of Wonder,"; is 8-year old Hap's childhood, during the summer break between grades 2 and 3. The story is a nostalgic-and sometimes ruefully hilarious-recollection of a boy's first love that takes readers back in time to Hap's-and likely their own- childhood, to the comparatively simple days when their biggest worry was which baseball card to trade and their greatest joy was the last day of school and the prospect of the endless summer ahead. The story will bring back a rush of memories of the hopes and dreams, as well as the naiveté, of the glorious confusion of childhood. Illustrated with black and white drawings, the book boasts a unique cover design: that of an antique cigar box, one that Collins has kept from his own youth, and it comes packed with the treasures of a boy who came of age in the mid-20th century.
"This book will penetrate the veneer of even the most hardened sophisticate with all the relief of Vicks VapoRub. Whereas Collins' two preceding collections of short stories and barnyard philosophy were downright funny, this gentle tale of an eight-year-old named Hap 'wallowing blissfully in the glorious confusion of childhood' is wistful and memorable,"; says Alan Twigg, of BC Bookworld.
About Bob Collins: Self-described as "a carpenter by trade, a farmer by ocation, a cottage resort owner by circumstance and a writer by accident,"; Collins is also a construction contractor who first published his stories in an agricultural monthly, Country Life in BC (founded by Ma Murray in 1915). Beneath an "aw shucks"; veneer, Collins is a wry and sly observer of human nature in the style of Leacock and Twain. He is a lifelong BC resident. [from BC Bookworld Author Bank: http://www.abcbookworld.com/]
About the Leacock Award: The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour is an annual award that started in 1947. A panel of judges is appointed from across Canada. Canadian publishers and writers await the announcement of the winner each year. A short list of five books is published in March and the winning book is announced in April. The Medal and cash award are presented at the award dinner in Orillia, Ontario. The award has attained an international reputation and is the only award of its kind for Canadian humour.
Stone Pillow Press is pleased to announce that the new "Hap Fitzpatrick book";-the third offering by Alberni farmer-writer Bob Collins-is in the running for a national book award. For the second time in his writing career, Alberni Valley author Bob Collins has been notified that one of his books is shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Collins' first book, Out Standing in Their Field: The Rural Adventures of Hap & Edna, was a magnificently funny book of short stories and was shortlisted for the Leacock Medal for Humour in 2001. This time, it's for his first full-length novel, Summer of Wonder: The Misguided Romance of Hap Fitzpatrick. The setting of "Summer of Wonder,"; is 8-year old Hap's childhood, during the summer break between grades 2 and 3. The story is a nostalgic-and sometimes ruefully hilarious-recollection of a boy's first love that takes readers back in time to Hap's-and likely their own- childhood, to the comparatively simple days when their biggest worry was which baseball card to trade and their greatest joy was the last day of school and the prospect of the endless summer ahead. The story will bring back a rush of memories of the hopes and dreams, as well as the naiveté, of the glorious confusion of childhood. Illustrated with black and white drawings, the book boasts a unique cover design: that of an antique cigar box, one that Collins has kept from his own youth, and it comes packed with the treasures of a boy who came of age in the mid-20th century.
"This book will penetrate the veneer of even the most hardened sophisticate with all the relief of Vicks VapoRub. Whereas Collins' two preceding collections of short stories and barnyard philosophy were downright funny, this gentle tale of an eight-year-old named Hap 'wallowing blissfully in the glorious confusion of childhood' is wistful and memorable,"; says Alan Twigg, of BC Bookworld.
About Bob Collins: Self-described as "a carpenter by trade, a farmer by ocation, a cottage resort owner by circumstance and a writer by accident,"; Collins is also a construction contractor who first published his stories in an agricultural monthly, Country Life in BC (founded by Ma Murray in 1915). Beneath an "aw shucks"; veneer, Collins is a wry and sly observer of human nature in the style of Leacock and Twain. He is a lifelong BC resident. [from BC Bookworld Author Bank: http://www.abcbookworld.com/]
About the Leacock Award: The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour is an annual award that started in 1947. A panel of judges is appointed from across Canada. Canadian publishers and writers await the announcement of the winner each year. A short list of five books is published in March and the winning book is announced in April. The Medal and cash award are presented at the award dinner in Orillia, Ontario. The award has attained an international reputation and is the only award of its kind for Canadian humour.
Submitted on March 30, 2005 in By David.
