The Season of Prizes

This is the season of book prizes. Every week there are new announcements acknowledging the work of writers around the world. While winning a prize certainly brings monetary rewards and increased book sales I suspect that most authors are more moved by the confirmation that their writing has value to society and that they have communicated their message well.

Subjects for exploration in books also have seasons. So it was with some pleasure that I note David Bergen's win of the Giller Prize for excellence in Canadian fiction. His book The Time in Between looks at the life of a Vietnam veteran in the time after the war. The Vietnam war and particularly its aftermath is an area of our culture that we haven't spoken much about and perhaps now is the season.