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Wednesday,
April 19, 2006
Arthur
Black Named Winner of 2006 Leacock Medal For Humour
With
the announcement that he is the winner of the 2006 Stephen Leacock Medal for
Humour and the TD Bank Financial Group’s $10 000 cash prize, Arthur Black
becomes only the third author to win this prestigious literary award three
times. Black’s latest collection, entitled Pitch
Black, was deemed the best book of humour published in Canada in the
past year by a panel of national judges and the Leacock Association.
Black
had previously won the award in 1997 and again in 2000. Fellow British
Columbian Eric Nicol has also won the award three times and Donald Jack
scored the literary hat trick with three of his novels in the Bandy
series.
Pitch
Black (Harbour Publishing) is a collection of columns and essays by the
former CBC radio host. It looks at the eccentric, the odd-ball and some
downright strange characters that Black somehow manages to unearth in his
seemingly endless quest to delve into the quirkiness of the human mind. We
also get Arthur’s view of the world as he reflects on such topics as the
evolution of profanity, the fleeting nature of celebrity or the medicinal
use of duct tape.
In
addition to winning the silver medal, the winner also receives a $10 000
cash prize which will be given at the annual Leacock dinner to be held June
10 at Geneva Park, near Orillia. |
