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North Okanagan novel nominated for another prestigious award

Brian Thomas Isaac’s All the Quiet Places is a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award
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Brian Thomas Isaac’s debut novel, All the Quiet Places, has been named a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award. (Photo: brianthomasisaac.com)

A North Okanagan author is up for another prestigious literary award.

The Canada Council for the Arts has named Brian Thomas Isaac’s book, All the Quiet Places, as a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Literacy Award.

In all, 70 books were named the best to have been published in 2022 across seven categories, in both English and French. All the Quiet Places is nominated in the fiction category.

“What a morning it has been for me and my family. We are still taking it all in,” said Isaac, an Okanagan Indian Band member who lives in Falkland, upon hearing the announcement.

Isaac’s book has seen a lot of love this awards season. His book was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (Canada’s top fiction prize) and the Amazon First Novel Award. He also won the Indigenous Voices Award for Published Fiction, and All the Quiet Places was a finalist for CBC’s book competition show, Canada Reads.

The novel tells the coming-of-age story of Eddie Toma, a Syilx boy who lives with his mother and his little brother on the far edge of the Okanagan Indian Reserve. Eddie’s life is governed by the decisions of the adults around him. His mother is determined that he learn the ways of the white world by sending him to school in Falkland.

The book progresses to Eddie’s teen years, when his future seems more secure after he finds a job and his long-time crush on his white neighbour is reciprocated. But whenever things are looking up, circumstances beyond his control come crashing down around him.

The novel tells the story of what can happen when every adult in a person’s life has been affected by colonialism.

Isaac attended the Vancouver Writers Fest on Oct. 20, an event on “the power of story” and a tribute to the late author Harold R. Johnson.

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READ MORE: North Okanagan author longlisted for Canada’s top literary prize


Brendan Shykora
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Brendan Shykora

About the Author: Brendan Shykora

I started as a carrier at the age of 8. In 2019 graduated from the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University.
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