Vine Awards Panel 1: WWII Fiction & Stories of Survival

Authors Michelle Barker, Gordon Korman, and Carol Windley in conversation with Naomi K. Lewis.

The Koffler is delighted to present three virtual panels featuring shortlisted Vine Awards authors on November 16, 17 and 18, 2021. The first panel features the 2021 Vine Awards shortlisted writers – Michelle Barker, Gordon Korman, and Carol Windley – in conversation with juror Naomi K. Lewis. Join us for an evening of enlightening conversation, as all three authors reflect on writing WWII fiction, stories of survival, and the coming-of-age genre.

To see the full 2021 Vine Awards shortlist, click here.

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Koffler Centre of the Arts · Vine Awards Panel 1: WWII Fiction & Stories of Survival

The conversation has been transcribed for accessibility purposes. Please click here to view.

MICHELLE BARKER is an author and editor who lives in Vancouver, B.C. Her fiction, non-fiction and poetry have been published in literary reviews around the world. Her novel, The House of One Thousand Eyes, has won numerous awards, including the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. Her newest novel My Long List of Impossible Things was named a Junior Library Guild gold standard selection. Michelle holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and works as a senior editor at the Darling Axe.

Barker's My Long List of Impossible Things (Annick Press) is shortlisted in the 2021 Vine Awards Young Adult/Children’s Literature category.

A brilliant historical YA that asks: how do you choose between survival and doing the right thing? The arrival of the Soviet Army in Germany at the end of World War II sends sixteen-year-old Katja and her family into turmoil. The fighting has stopped, but German society is in collapse, resulting in tremendous hardship. With their father gone and few resources available to them, Katja and her sister are forced to flee their home, reassured by their mother that if they can just reach a distant friend in a town far away, things will get better. But their harrowing journey brings danger and violence, and Katja needs to summon all her strength to build a new life, just as she’s questioning everything she thought she knew about her country.

GORDON KORMAN is the #1 bestselling author of three books in The 39 Clues series as well as eight books in his Swindle series: Swindle, Zoobreak, Framed, Showoff, Hideout, Jackpot, Unleashed, and Jingle. His other books include This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! (published when he was 14); The Toilet Paper Tigers; Radio Fifth Grade; Slacker; Restart; Whatshisface; Level 13; the trilogies Island, Everest, Dive, Kidnapped, and Titanic; and the series The Hypnotists and On the Run. Gordon grew up in Thornhill, Ontario and he lives in New York with his family.

Gordon Korman, War Stories (Scholastic Canada) is shortlisted in the 2021 Vine Awards Young Adult/Children’s Literature category.

A story of telling truth from lies – and finding out what being a hero really means. There are two things Trevor loves more than anything else: playing war-based video games, and his great-grandfather Jacob, who is a true-blue, bona fide war hero. At the height of the war, Jacob helped liberate a small French village, and was given a hero's welcome upon his return to America.

Now it's decades later, and Jacob wants to retrace the steps he took during the war – from training to invasion to the village he is said to have saved. But as the journey unfolds, Trevor discovers there's more to the story than what he's heard his whole life, causing him to wonder about his great-grandfather's heroism, the truth about the battle he fought, and importance of genuine valor.

CAROL WINDLEY is the author of the novel Breathing Under Water and two story collections: the Scotiabank Giller Prize–finalist Home Schooling and Visible Light, which won the Bumbershoot/Weyerhaeuser Prize and was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award. She lives with her husband on Vancouver Island.

Carol Windley, Midnight Train to Prague (HarperCollins Canada) is shortlisted in the 2021 Vine Awards Fiction category.

An unforgettable tale of what we owe to those we love, and those we have left behind.

In 1927, as Natalia Faber travels from Berlin to Prague with her mother, their train is delayed in Saxon Switzerland. In the brief time the train is idle, Natalia learns the truth about her father and meets a remarkable woman named Dr. Magdalena Schaeffer, whose family will become a significant part of her future. Shaken by these events, Natalia arrives at a spa on the shore of Lake Hevíz in Hungary, where she meets Count Miklós Andorján, a journalist and adventurer, and soon to be husband.

Years later, Germany has invaded Russia, and when Miklós fails to return from the eastern front, Natalia goes to Prague to wait for him. With a pack of tarot cards, she sets up shop as a fortune teller, and she meets Anna Schaeffer, the daughter of the woman she met decades earlier on that stalled train. The Nazis accuse Natalia of spying, and she is sent to a concentration camp, and although they are separated, her friendship with Anna grows as they fight to survive and to be reunited with their families.

NAOMI K. LEWIS is a fiction and nonfiction writer, editor, and creative writing teacher in Calgary. She wrote the novel Cricket in a Fist (2008) and the story collection I Know Who You Remind Of (2012), and co-edited, with Rona Altrows, the anthology Shy (2013). Her journalism has been shortlisted for provincial and national magazine awards, and her 2019 memoir, Tiny Lights for Travellers, won the Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature for Nonfiction, Alberta's Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction, and the Pinsky Givon Prize for Nonfiction, a Western Canada Jewish Book Award. It was also a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Nonfiction and the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Award.

The Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature are made possible by a generous donation from:

Lillian and Norman Glowinsky Family Foundation

The 2021 Vine Awards programs are co-presented by the Miles Nadal JCC and the Centre for Contemporary Literature, Holy Blossom Temple. All 2021 Vine Awards shortlisted titles can be purchased from benmcnallybooks.com.

The Koffler Centre of the Arts is dedicated to accessibility. CART live captioning will be provided at this event, and a transcript and video/audio recording will be available afterwards on the Koffler website. This Zoom event is in webinar format, meaning all event attendees will be off camera. We will do our best to accommodate additional access needs; if you have questions or concerns, please contact our access point person, Mary, at manderson@kofflerarts.org

Photos

Michelle Barker (photo by Robin-Susanto).

Gordon Korman (photo by Owen Kassimir).

Carol Windley (photo by Robert Windley).

Naomi K. Lewis.