{"id":119502,"date":"2025-09-04T14:27:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119502\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T14:27:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:27:05","slug":"s-k-ali-and-rosena-fung-both-nominated-for-two-canadian-childrens-book-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119502\/","title":{"rendered":"S.K. Ali and Rosena Fung both nominated for two Canadian children’s book awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

S.K. Ali and Rosena Fung\u00a0are both nominated for two prizes for the\u00a02025 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The seven awards,\u00a0which include prizes for nonfiction, YA and picture books, annually recognize the best in Canadian children’s literature.<\/p>\n

Ali is the Toronto based author of\u00a0Fledgling<\/a>,\u00a0which is shortlisted for the\u00a0$5,000 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and the\u00a0$5,000 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fledgling<\/a>\u00a0is the first book in a YA science fiction duology set amidst two earths on the brink of self destruction. When the dutiful Raisa of Upper Earth is arranged to be married to Lein, the Crown Prince of Lower Earth, Raisa obliges in the hopes of preventing further war. Lein’s cousin and recently imprisoned Nada has a different idea: stop the royal wedding and spark a revolution. As tensions rise between both worlds, the paths to tyranny or peace become more and more blurred.<\/p>\n

\"Fledgling<\/p>\n

Ali is a bestselling YA and children’s writer. Her books include the YA novels\u00a0Saints and Misfits<\/a>,\u00a0Love from A to Z<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Love from Mecca to Medina<\/a>. She wrote the\u00a0picture book\u00a0The Proudest Blue<\/a>\u00a0and co-edited the middle-grade anthology\u00a0Once Upon an Eid\u00a0which won the Middle East Book Honor Award in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ali was also the judge for the 2025 First Page student writing challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fung\u00a0is the\u00a0Toronto author and illustrator of Age 16<\/a>, which is nominated for the\u00a0$5,000 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the\u00a0Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.<\/p>\n

The dynamics of gender, race and motherhood between three generations of women are carefully explored in the coming-of-age graphic novel\u00a0Age 16<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1954 Guangdong, Mei Laan is 16 and seeks an arranged marriage so that she can be “free.”\u00a0In Hong Kong in 1972, her now teenage daughter Lydia is a dancer and longs for her approval. In Toronto in 2000, Lydia’s daughter Roz is struggling with body image and is confronted by family secrets when her estranged por por, grandma, makes a surprise visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Age<\/p>\n

Fung’s work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, giant murals and on TV. She is also the creator of\u00a0Living with Viola<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The complete list of finalists are below.\u00a0Many of the books are available in accessible formats for people with print disabilities through the Centre for Equitable Library Access<\/a> (CELA).<\/p>\n

The finalists for the $20,000 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award are:<\/p>\n

A Face Is a Poem by Julie Morstad I’m Afraid, Said the Leaf by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Matt James It Bears Repeating by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by\u00a0Cee Pootoogook Mad at Dad by Janie Hao SOS Water by Yayo <\/p>\n

The finalists for the $10,000 Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Nonfiction are:<\/p>\n

All Consuming by\u00a0Erin Silver, illustrated by\u00a0Suharu Ogawa The Longest Shot by Chad Soon, illustrated by Amy Qi Lost at Windy River by\u00a0Trina Rathgeber, illustrated by\u00a0Jillian Dolan Meet Jim Egan\u00a0by Elizabeth MacLeod, illustrated by Mike Deas You Can Be an Activist by\u00a0Charlene Rocha and Mary Beth Leatherdale, illustrated by Drew Shannon <\/p>\n

The finalists for the $5,000 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People are:<\/p>\n

Age 16 by Rosena Fung Eyes on the Ice by Anna Rosner The Go-Between by Jennifer Maruno Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams by Shari Green Wings to Soar by Tina Athaide <\/p>\n

The finalists for the $5,000 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award are:<\/p>\n

Age 16 by Rosena Fung And Then There Was Us by Kern Carter A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jean Ferguson Fledgling by S.K. Ali For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga The Lighting Circle by Vikki VanSickle, illustrated by Laura K. Watson <\/p>\n

The finalists for the $5,000 Jean Little First Novel Award are:<\/p>\n

Alterations by Ray Xu Maya Plays the Part by Calyssa Erb Teddy vs. the Fuzzy Doom by Braden Hallett <\/p>\n

The finalists for the $5,000 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy\u00a0are:<\/p>\n

Fledgling by S.K. Ali The Headmaster by Mark Morton Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities by Casey Lyall Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek <\/p>\n

The finalists for the $2,500 Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award are:<\/p>\n

Hummingbird \/ Aamo-binashee\u00a0by Jennifer Leason, Anishinaabemowin translation by Norman Chartrand I Wonder About Worlds by James Gladston, illustrated by Yaara Eshet Mighty Scared\u00a0by Erin Silver, illustrated by Hayden Maynard A Song for the Paper Children by Christopher Tse Two Pieces of Chocolate by Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard <\/p>\n

The winners will be announced at an event in Toronto on Oct. 27, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year’s winners included\u00a0Jean E. Pendziwol and Jack Wong<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S.K. Ali and Rosena Fung\u00a0are both nominated for two prizes for the\u00a02025 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Awards.\u00a0 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":["post-119502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}