-
Edition 13 (2024) Winner
Amanda Peters
アマンダ・ピーターズ
Amanda Peters
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- Falmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada (Annapolis Valley region)
- Nationality
- Canada
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Falmouth, Nova Scotia (Annapolis Valley) → Nova Scotia (raised)
Career
- Occupations
- Writer
- Active Years
- 2019-
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction | The Berry Pickers | Fiction | Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Won |
| 2023 | Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award | The Berry Pickers | — | Barnes & Noble | Won |
| 2024 | Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence | The Berry Pickers | First Novel | Crime Writers of Canada | Won |
| 2024 | Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction | The Berry Pickers | Fiction | Dartmouth Book Awards | Won |
| 2023 | Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize | The Berry Pickers | — | Writers' Trust of Canada | Shortlisted |
| 2024 | Amazon.ca First Novel Award | The Berry Pickers | — | Amazon.ca First Novel Award | Shortlisted |
| 2024 | Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Fiction | The Berry Pickers | First Book (Fiction) | Nova Scotia Book Awards | Shortlisted |
| 2024 | Thomas Head Raddall Award | The Berry Pickers | — | Thomas Head Raddall Award committee | Shortlisted |
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
2024
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Category:
Fiction
Organization:
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Result:
Won
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
2023
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Organization:
Barnes & Noble
Result:
Won
Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence
2024
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Category:
First Novel
Organization:
Crime Writers of Canada
Result:
Won
Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
2024
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Category:
Fiction
Organization:
Dartmouth Book Awards
Result:
Won
Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
2023
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Organization:
Writers' Trust of Canada
Result:
Shortlisted
Amazon.ca First Novel Award
2024
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Organization:
Amazon.ca First Novel Award
Result:
Shortlisted
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Fiction
2024
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Category:
First Book (Fiction)
Organization:
Nova Scotia Book Awards
Result:
Shortlisted
Thomas Head Raddall Award
2024
Work:
The Berry Pickers
Organization:
Thomas Head Raddall Award committee
Result:
Shortlisted
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
The Berry Pickers
2023 Novel (Fiction)Centers on a young Mi'kmaw girl who goes missing in Maine and depicts the lifelong effects on her birth family and on the girl herself, who grows up as the child of a white family with no knowledge of her origins. Themes include Indigenous identity, family, loss, and recovery.
Indigenous identityFamilyLossMemory and recovery
Waiting for the Long Night Moon
2024 Short story collection (Fiction)A collection of short stories exploring Indigenous communities, family relationships, loss, and moments of hope within everyday life.
CommunityFamily relationshipsLoss and hope
Bibliography
- The Berry Pickers (2023)
- Waiting for the Long Night Moon (short stories, 2024)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Realism centering Indigenous perspectivesRestrained narration with deep psychological focus
- Recurring Motifs
- Missing childrenKinship and lineageLand and belonging
Legacy
A Canadian emerging Indigenous writer whose debut novel The Berry Pickers earned multiple awards and shortlistings. Recognized for centering Mi'kmaq experiences and regarded as an important voice in regional and Indigenous literature.
Quotes
-
The Berry Pickers examines the joy and pain of hope after a little girl's disappearance.
Source: Everything Zoomer (article by Elizabeth Mitchell) (2023)
Trivia
- Of mixed Mi'kmaq and European heritage; member of the Glooscap First Nation.
- Nominated for an Indigenous Voices Award in 2019 for the short story 'Pejipug (Winter Arrives)' and won in the Unpublished English Prose category in 2021 for 'Waiting for the Long Night Moon'.
- Debut novel The Berry Pickers was published by Catapult Books.