Richard Ford's powerful coming-of-age novel, "Canada" has won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Called "bleak and strangely beautiful" by the Star Tribune, the novel tells the story of 15-year-old Dell Parsons, whose family is fractured by a violent crime. The nonfiction medal for excellence went to Timothy Egan for his biography, "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis."
Edward Curtis devoted his life, his health and his marriage to photographing the Indians of North America at a time when their traditions--and many of the tribes--were dying out. Egan's book is gracefully told, in language and scene that employs all five of the senses, the Strib critic said.
Ford and Egan received their awards--$5,000 and a medal--Sunday at the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago.
Runners up, who won $1,500, include Louise Erdrich for "The Round House," Junot Diaz, for "This is How You Loser Her," Jill Lepore, for "The Mansion of Happiness," and David Quammen, for "Spillover."
