Thomas Raddall
Atlantic Fiction Award

One prize ($30,000) is awarded each year for a novel or a book of short fiction that was written by a full-time resident of Atlantic Canada and published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the year prior to the submission deadline. Additional finalists each receive $500.
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award was established in 1991 with an endowment by Thomas Head Raddall himself, and it continues with ongoing support from the Raddall family. The award honours the work of fiction writers in the Atlantic region and, as its original benefactor envisioned, provides “the gift of time and peace of mind” so essential to the creation of new work.
Inaugurated as a $5000 prize, the award has grown steadily under the Raddall family’s stewardship. Beginning in 2022, the prize amount was raised from $25,000 to $30,000.
A writer may win the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award a maximum of three times. Young adult (YA) titles are ineligible for this award and should be submitted to the Ann Connor Brimer Award.
For more about this award, read “The Gift of Time” in Atlantic Books, a history of the Raddall Award by Alexander MacLeod.
Click covers for more information.
2024 Winner
2024

Winner
Michelle Porter
A Grandmother Begins the Story
(Viking Canada)

Finalist
Violet Browne
This is the House That Luke Built
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
Charlene Carr
Hold My Girl
(HarperCollins)

Finalist
Amanda Peters
The Berry Pickers
(HarperCollins)

Finalist
William Ping
Hollow Bamboo
(HarperCollins)
2023

Winner
K.R. Byggdin
Wonder World
(Enfield & Wizenty)

Finalist
Bobbi French
The Good Women of Safe Harbour
(HarperCollins)

Finalist
Lisa Moore
This is How We Love
(House of Anansi)
2022

Winner
Michelle Butler Hallett
Constant Nobody
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
David Huebert
Chemical Valley
(Biblioasis)

Finalist
Sharon Robart-Johnson
Jude and Diana
(Fernwood Publishing)
2021

Winner
Anne Simpson
Speechless
(Freehand Books)

Finalist
Bridget Canning
Some People’s Children
(Breakwater Books)

Finalist
Morgan Murray
Dirty Birds
(Breakwater Books)
2020

Winner
Michael Crummey
The Innocents
(Doubleday Canada)

Finalist
Jaime Burnet
Crocuses Hatch from Snow
(Vagrant Press)

Finalist
Shandi Mitchell
The Waiting Hours
(Viking Canada)
2019

Winner
Lisa Moore
Something for Everyone: Stories
(House of Anansi Press)

Finalist
Sharon Bala
The Boat People
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist
Elisabeth de Mariaffi
Hysteria
(HarperCollins)
2018

Winner
Oisin Curran
Blood Fable
(Bookhug Press)

Finalist
Carol Bruneau
A Bird on Every Tree: Stories
(Vagrant Press)

Finalist
Sarah Faber
All is Beauty Now
(McClelland & Stewart)
2017

Winner
Donna Morrissey
The Fortunate Brother
(Viking)

Finalist
Darren Greer
Advocate
(Cormorant Books)

Finalist
Ami McKay
The Witches of New York
(Knopf)
2016

Winner
R.W. Gray
Entropic: Stories
(NeWest Press)

Finalist
Mark Anthony Jarman
Knife Party at the Hotel Europa
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
Elisabeth de Mariaffi
The Devil You Know
(HarperCollins)
2015

Winner
Darren Greer
Just Beneath My Skin
(Cormorant Books)

Finalist
David Adams Richards
Crimes Against My Brother
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Michael Crummey
Sweetland
(Doubleday)
2014

Winner
William Kowalski
The Hundred Hearts
(Dundurn Press)

Finalist
Shashi Bhat
The Family Took Shape
(Cormorant Books)

Finalist
Ed Kavanagh
Strays: Stories
(Killick Press)
2013

Winner
Russell Wangersky
Whirl Away: Stories
(Thomas Allen Publishers)

Finalist
Keir Lowther
Dirty Bird
(Tightrope Books)

Finalist
Donna Morrissey
The Deception of Livvy Higgs
(Viking)
2012

Winner
David Adams Richards
Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Valerie Compton
Tide Road
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
Heather Jessup
The Lightning Field
(Gaspereau Press)
2011

Winner
Kathleen Winter
Annabel
(House of Anansi Press)

Finalist
Alexander MacLeod
Light Lifting: Stories
(Biblioasis)

Finalist
Beth Powning
The Sea Captain’s Wife
(Random House)
2010

Winner
Shandi Mitchell
Under This Unbroken Sky
(Penguin)

Finalist
Michael Crummey
Galore
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Linden MacIntyre
The Bishop’s Man
(Random House)
2009

Winner
Douglas Arthur Brown
Quintet
(Key Porter Books)

Finalist
Ian Colford
Evidence
(Porcupine’s Quill)

Finalist
Sara Tilley
Skin Room
(Pedlar Press)
2008

Winner
Don Hannah
Ragged Islands
(Knopf)

Finalist
David Adams Richards
The Lost Highway
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Bernice Morgan
Cloud of Bone
(Knopf)
2007

Winner
Linda Little
Scotch River
(Penguin)

Finalist
Wayne Johnston
The Custodian of Paradise
(Knopf)

Finalist
Ami McKay
The Birth House
(Knopf)
2006

Winner
Donna Morrissey
Sylvanus Now
(Penguin)

Finalist
George Elliott Clarke
George & Rue
(HarperCollins)

Finalist
Lisa Moore
Alligator
(House of Anansi)
2005

Winner
Edward Riche
The Nine Planets
(Viking)

Finalist
Kelly Cooper
Eyehill
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
Michael Winter
The Big Why
(House of Anansi)
2004

Winner
Kenneth J. Harvey
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe
(Raincoast Books)

Finalist
David Adams Richards
River of the Brokenhearted
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Leo McKay, Jr.
Twenty-Six
(McClelland & Stewart)
2003

Winner
Donna Morrissey
Downhill Chance
(Penguin)

Finalist
Christy Ann Conlin
Heave
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Sue Goyette
Lures
(HarperCollins)
2002

Winner
Michael Crummey
River Thieves
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Linda Little
Strong Hollow
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
Anne Simpson
Canterbury Beach
(Penguin)
2001

Winner
Carol Bruneau
Purple for Sky
(Cormorant Books)
published in USA as A Purple Thread for Sky
(Carroll & Graff)

Finalist
David Adams Richards
Mercy Among the Children
(Doubleday)

Finalist
Robert Finley
The Accidental Indies
(McGill-Queen's University Press)
2000

Winner
Alistair MacLeod
No Great Mischief
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist
Carmelita McGrath
Stranger Things Have Happened
(Creative Book Publishing)

Finalist
Donna Morrissey
Kit's Law
(Penguin)
1999

Winner
Wayne Johnston
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
(Knopf)

Finalist
David Adams Richards
The Bay of Love and Sorrows
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist
Lynn Coady
Strange Heaven
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist
Don Hannah
The Wise and Foolish Virgins
(Knopf)
Prior to 1999, finalists for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award were not publicly announced.
1998

Winner
Shree Ghatage
Awake when all the world is asleep
(House of Anansi)
1997

Winner
Alfred Silver
Acadia
(Ballantine Books)
1996

Winner
M. T. Dohaney
A Marriage of Masks
(Ragweed Press)
1995

Winner
Bernice Morgan
Waiting for Time
(Breakwater Books)
1994

Winner
David Adams Richards
For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down
(McClelland & Stewart)
1993

Winner
John Steffler
The Afterlife of George Cartwright
(McClelland & Stewart)
1992

Winner
Herb Curtis
The Last Tasmanian
(Goose Lane Editions)
1991

Winner
Wayne Johnston
The Divine Ryans
(McClelland & Stewart)