{"id":161441,"date":"2025-09-22T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/161441\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T13:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:00:10","slug":"cole-nowicki-jarret-hartnell-and-a-j-devlin-among-winners-of-the-2025-alberta-book-publishing-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/161441\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole Nowicki, Jarret Hartnell and A.J. Devlin among winners of the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cole Nowicki, Jarret Hartnell\u00a0and A.J. Devlin\u00a0are\u00a0among winners of the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards.<\/p>\n

The prizes, administered by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, annually celebrate the province’s best books of the year across 16 categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ALaser Quit Smoking Massage is a short story collection by Cole Nowicki. (NeWest Press)<\/p>\n

Nowicki won the Trade Non-Fiction book of the Year category for\u00a0Laser Quit Smoking Massage<\/a>, which\u00a0explores questions of family, community and belonging amid the rural and urban spaces that make up Western Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nowicki is a writer, producer and publisher originally from Lac La Biche, Alta., who now lives and works in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

His work has been featured in publications such The Walrus, Catapult, Vice, The Outline, Maisonneuve and Quartersnacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is the author of\u00a0Right, Down + Circle, was a columnist for\u00a0King Skateboard Magazine, lead writer for the acclaimed documentary series Post\u00a0Radical, and writes\u00a0Simple Magic, a weekly newsletter about skateboarding, the Internet\u00a0and other means of escape.<\/p>\n

The Next ChapterBar karaoke characters and life in Western Canada in Cole Nowicki\u2019s essay collection<\/p>\n

Vancouver-based writer and former skateboarder Cole Nowicki talks about the inspiration behind his essay collection Laser Quit Smoking Massage.<\/p>\n

Hartnell’s graphic novel Shout\u00a0Kill Revel <\/a>won three awards \u2014 the Graphic Novel of the Year, Douglas Barbour Award for Speculative Fiction and Book Illustration of the Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"An (Renegade Arts )<\/p>\n

In Hartnell’s fantasy Western, a ruthless cult called the Undrowned Order rules the land as they enact their evil plans.<\/p>\n

They believe that Helmina is their messiah who will unleash unspeakable horror upon the earth. After a lifetime of wrestling with her cosmic affliction, Helmina decides to take her destiny into her own hands.<\/p>\n

Jarret Hartnell is a comic writer and artist based in Calgary.\u00a0Shout Kill Revel<\/a>\u00a0is his debut graphic novel.<\/p>\n

A.J. Devlin’s novel Bronco Buster won in the\u00a0Mystery and Thriller Book of the Year category.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bronco Buster is the latest in Devlin’s\u00a0award-winning “Hammerhead” Jed mystery series, which includes Cobra Clutch, Rolling Thunder and Five Moves of Doom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The book\u00a0follows former pro wrestler-turned-P.I. “Hammerhead” Jed Ounstead\u00a0as he’s back on the case investigating the Colossal Cloverdale Rodeo and County Fair to find out what happened to a man he and his cousin Declan spent the night drinking with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ABronco Buster is a mystery novel by A.J. Devlin. (NeWest Press)<\/p>\n

A.J. Devlin<\/a>\u00a0is a Vancouver-raised\u00a0crime and mystery novelist. He spent six years in Southern California,\u00a0where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from Chapman University and a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting from The American Film Institute.<\/p>\n

He has since moved back to British Columbia and\u00a0now lives\u00a0in Port Moody\u00a0with his wife and two children.<\/p>\n

His debut novel,\u00a0Cobra Clutch<\/a>,\u00a0was\u00a0released in 2018.\u00a0It is the first in the “Hammerhead” Jed Mystery series and it won\u00a0the 2019 Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Next ChapterA.J. Devlin on Rolling Thunder<\/p>\n

A.J. Devlin on his latest book, Rolling Thunder.<\/p>\n

You can find the full list of winners below:<\/p>\n

Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year:\u00a0Laser Quit Smoking Massage<\/a> by\u00a0Cole Nowicki Learning Book of the Year:\u00a0Common Clinical Presentations by Dr. Christopher Naugler Mystery and Thriller Book of the Year:\u00a0Bronco Buster by\u00a0A.J. Devlin Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry: Attic Rain by Samantha Jones Douglas Barbour Award for Speculative Fiction:\u00a0Shout Kill Revel<\/a>\u00a0by Jarret Hartnell Scholarly & Academic Book of the Year:\u00a0Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities: Colonial Extractivism and Wet’suwet’en Resistance\u00a0by\u00a0Tyler McCreary Graphic Novel of the Year:\u00a0Shout Kill Revel<\/a>\u00a0by Jarret Hartnell Trade Fiction Book of the Year: Art of Camouflage by Sara Power Regional Book of the Year:\u00a0The Art of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy by\u00a0Jared Tailfeathers Book Cover Design: Juiceboxers by Benjamin Hertwig,\u00a0book design by Natalie Olsen\u00a0 Book Design:\u00a0Every Night I Dream I’m a Monk, Every Night I Dream I’m a Monster by Damian Tarnopolsky, book design by Natalie Olsen Book Illustration:\u00a0Shout Kill Revel<\/a>\u00a0by Jarret Hartnell Lifetime Achievement in Alberta Publishing Award:\u00a0Kieran Leblanc <\/p>\n

The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Grey Eagle Resort in Calgary.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cole Nowicki, Jarret Hartnell\u00a0and A.J. Devlin\u00a0are\u00a0among winners of the 2025 Alberta Book Publishing Awards. The prizes, administered by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":["post-161441","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\/161441","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=161441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}