Constance Rooke
WINS THE 2005-2006 GJENIMA PRIZE IN LITERATURE
This year's Gjenima Prize recipient is literary critic, editor and educator, Constance Rooke. She has cleared quite a path in the literary world, having held many prestigious positions and having published more excellent work than most people can dream up in a lifetime-but perhaps most importantly, she has managed to conjure in the world around her an appreciation and an appetite for literature.
For ten years Rooke served as Editor of The Malahat Review, during which time it became the most important literary magazine in Canada. Since her editorship began, The Malahat Review has regularly received National Magazine Awards, including eight gold and four silver awards for poetry, and two gold and three silver awards for fiction. It has won the Western Magazine Award for Fiction six times, the O. Henry Award twice, and the Journey Prize six times.
Rooke also has a long history with PEN Canada and currently serves as its president. She has edited three anthologies to raise funds for PEN Canada's global causes: Writing Away, Writing Home, & Writing Life. The first two volumes raised $200,000, which went to PEN's support of free speech and imprisoned writers worldwide.
To arrive at the final outcome, our newest laureate had to compete with the significant qualifications of such eminent writers as the Mexican writer and translator Homero Aridjis, the ucrahinainan poet Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko, the German-Canadian writer and translator Robert Elsie, and the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, to mention a few of the candidates who were presented to the 2005 jury...
After carefully reading her work, there is no doubt in my mind that Constance Rooke is one of the very best writers of our century. But what proved most impressive to me in the Rooke's work was its rigorous honesty and profound humanity. She has dedicated all her life to teaching writers to become better writers and to honor them by editing their work before it hits the library shelves.
Constance Rooke has spent her lifetime believing in and giving to the world of literature, whether it can be in the form of criticism reminding us all of what excellence is, or a guide dedicated to teaching children how to understand and appreciate literature. She clearly loves what she does and, most importantly, has succeeded in exciting the world around her with her great passion. She is most deserving of this honor.
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