In Agnes, Murderess, 'Sarah Leavitt delivers a most powerful story, artfully tying together the engaging voice of her protagonist with well-timed ellipses and magical drawings that are the hallmark of the successful graphic novel,' the jury said. Sarah Leavitt's comic imagines the life of Agnes McVee, fabled 19th-century serial killer

It was a finalist for the 2020 Doug Wright Award for best Canadian comic. Leavitt's comic imagines Agnes being raised by her evil grandmother in Scotland, making her way to London and then to B.C., leaving a trail of bodies along the way. The legend, which hasn't been substantiated by historians, suggests that McVee murdered several gold miners and sex workers who stayed at her inn. Īgnes, Murderess is inspired by the legend of Agnus McVee, a 19th-century roadhouse owner in B.C. The winner of the fiction category was Sarah Leavitt for her graphic novel Agnes, Murderess. ' Broken Strings seamlessly blends themes of young love, artistic identity, 9/11, grief, and the Auschwitz orchestra into a moving and insightful young adult novel,' said the jury. The worst writing advice Eric Walters ever received Eventually, a long-kept family secret comes to light. In prepping for her role, Shirli comes across an old violin in her grandfather's attic which unleashes an anger in him that she has never seen before. Well researched, and offering up much intriguing and gritty detail, it is the unveiling of several intricately-woven true stories of the earliest days of Mossad, and the pivotal, but until now obscured, role of the four Arab Jews who laid the underground work for the imminent birth of the country of Israel,' the jury said in a statement.Įric Walters and Kathy Kacer won the children's/young adult category for their book Broken Strings, which follows a girl named Shirli Berman who was recently cast in her junior high's production of Fiddler on the Roof. ' Spies of No Country reads like a spy-thriller page-turner, replete with all the suspense of double identities and the close calls of betrayals - except that this is not a work of fiction.

Matti Friedman: How I wrote about my time as an Israeli soldier Friedman explored the identities of these young spies, as well as Israel's own complicated and fascinating identity. They were tasked with gathering intelligence and carrying out sabotage and assassinations. The unit was made up of Jews who were native to the Arab world. Spies of No Country follows the lives of four spies who are part of a ragtag unit known as the Arab Section, which was conceived during the Second World War by British spies and Jewish militia leaders in Palestine. There are five categories and each comes with a grand prize of $10,000. The Vine Awards honour the best Canadian literature by Jewish writers or on Jewish subjects. Canadian Israeli journalist Matti Friedman won the history category for the 2020 Vine Awards for his book Spies of No Country.

Spies of No Country by Matti Friedman