Katherena Vermette wins $40,000 Amazon.ca First Novel Award

Congratulations to Creative Writing MFA alumna Katherena Vermette, whose book The Break is the winner of this year’s Amazon.ca First Novel Award. This $40,000 annual prize celebrates debut Canadian novels. The Break tells the story of a Winnipeg neighbourhood in shock after a young Indigenous girl is sexually assaulted. The Break was featured in CBC’s Canada Reads earlier this year and was also shortlisted for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.