Southeast recognized in book award nominations

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This article was published 31/03/2017 (2553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Steinbach school teachers, a local Mennonite historian, and a poet who grew up near Niverville are among the nominees for the 2017 Manitoba Book Awards.

Triple nominee and poet Angeline Schellenberg said she was honoured see her debut volume, Tell Them It Was Mozart, shortlisted alongside the work of veteran poets who have taught and published extensively.

“I’ve been attending the Manitoba Book Awards for the past seven years, cheering for my friends, whose books were nominated, and dreaming of the day my own book would be out in the world,” said Schellenberg. “Seeing Tell Them It Was Mozart on the shortlists and seeing my friends so happy for me is a lot of fun.”

ANTHONY MARK PHOTOGRAPHY
Angeline Schellenberg’s debut volume of poetry, Tell Them It Was Mozart, has been nominated for three Manitoba Book Awards. Schellenberg says her poetry was inspired by her experiences as a parent of two children with autism.
ANTHONY MARK PHOTOGRAPHY Angeline Schellenberg’s debut volume of poetry, Tell Them It Was Mozart, has been nominated for three Manitoba Book Awards. Schellenberg says her poetry was inspired by her experiences as a parent of two children with autism.

Schellenberg will compete for the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry, the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book, and the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer.

She grew up near Niverville, attended Providence University College, and now lives in Winnipeg with her husband and two teenaged children. Her roots in southeastern Manitoba produced a supportive writing environment, she said, while the scenic prairie landscape provided inspiration.

“I love where I’m from, and whenever I travel to promote my book, I’m a bit of an evangelist for how wonderful Manitoba is,” she said.

Tell Them It Was Mozart revolves around the birth and upbringing of Schellenberg’s son and daughter, both of whom are on the autism spectrum. She described a process of “coming to terms with my expectations” and “dealing with doctors, therapists, and teachers,” while also building bonds with her children.

Schellenberg settled on the intensely personal theme while enrolled in a Manitoba Writer’s Guild mentoring program.

“I had a few different poems on different themes, and we decided that it would be good to focus on my poems about raising my kids…It’s not just individual poems. They form a story.”

Schellenberg said she was conscious of the emotional subject matter, which she desired to capture both trying and happy moments.

“I majored on the joy,” she explained, and included passages characterized by “humour and lightness, relationship and connection.”

Parents of children with a disability may realize that someone understands their journey, she explained, while others may gain a new perspective on people who live with a disability.

“I think it can be a book for anybody, because we all have to face our own imperfections and the uncertainty of life,” she said. “Even if your family doesn’t have a disability, everyone’s family turns out differently than the way they expected.”

The poems benefitted their author, too. Schellenberg said she has learned to overcome parenting messages that seemed designed to make her feel anxious or inadequate. “My kids are great they way they are,” she said.

Schellenberg’s advice to other first-time authors is to become embedded in a writing community: join a writer’s guild, approach a mentor, and attend open mic nights and author readings.

“Expose yourself to great writing, and talk to other writers. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for all of the other writers who encouraged me to keep going,” she said.

Schellenberg is just one of several local authors to be nominated for a 2017 Manitoba Book Award. Also in the running at the Apr. 22 gala is University of Winnipeg historian Royden Loewen. The Mennonite Studies professor has been nominated for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award for Horse-and-Buggy Genius: Listening to Mennonites Contest the Modern World. The book, which involved three years of research in 35 Mennonite communities across the Americas, has also been nominated for the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration award.

Rudiger and the Painted Door, the debut collaboration between author Jonathan Toews and illustrator Ryan Polinsky, two Steinbach Christian School teachers, will compete in the children’s illustrated category.

Winnipeg novelist David Bergen, who grew up in Niverville, was also recognized. His most recent novel, Stranger, received a nod for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.

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