Margaret & John Savage
First Book Award (Fiction)
The Margaret & John Savage First Book Award (Fiction) is awarded annually to an outstanding debut book of fiction by a Nova Scotia author published in the preceding year that has contributed to the understanding of Nova Scotia and its peoples. It was first awarded in 2004 as the Margaret & John Savage First Book Award. In 2018, this original award was split into two awards, one for fiction titles and one for nonfiction titles.
Past Winners
2024
2023
Not awarded
2022
Prior to 2018, the Margaret & John Savage First Book Award (Nonfiction) was known simply as the Margaret & John Savage First Book Award, for which both fiction and nonfiction titles were eligible.
2017
Winner
Erin Wunker
Notes from a Feminist Killjoy: Essays on Everyday Life
(Book*hug Press)
Finalist
James McLeod
Turmoil, as Usual: Politics in Newfoundland and Labrador and the road to the 2015 Election
(Creative Book Publishing)
Finalist
Charlie Rhindress
I’m Not What I Seem: The many stories of Rita MacNeil's life
(Formac Publishing)
2013
Winner
Keir Lowther
Dirty Bird
(Tightrope Books)
Finalist
Nicole Dixon
High-Water Mark
(The Porcupine's Quill)
Finalist
Lesleyanne Ryan
Braco
(Breakwater Books)
2012
Winner
Riel Nason
The Town That Drowned
(Goose Lane Editions)
Finalist
Heather Jessup
The Lightning Field
(Gaspereau Press)
Finalist
Michael Murphy
A Description of the Blazing World
(Freehand Books)
2011
Winner
Alexander MacLeod
Light Lifting
(Biblioasis)
Finalist
Kate Evans
Where Old Ghosts Meet
(Breakwater Books)
Finalist
Jerry Lockett
Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada: The Adventurer & Map Maker's Formative Years
(Formac Publishing)
2010
Winner
Shandi Mitchell
Under This Unbroken Sky
(Penguin Group Canada)
Finalist
Greg Malone
You Better Watch Out: A Memoir
(Knopf Canada)
Finalist
Binnie Brennan
Harbour View
(Quattro Books)