April 28, 2005 -

On Friday, April 29 at 15:00 in the NAC’s Salon, the NAC and Alberta Scene will host a public reception to announce the winner of one of Canada’s richest literary prizes

The reception, that will mark the fifth anniversary of the awards, will include readings from each of this year’s finalists. They are:

• Shree Ghatage of Calgary for Brahma’s Dream. Published by Doubleday Canada
• Linda Goyette of Edmonton for Edmonton In Our Own Words. Published by the University of Alberta Press
• Greg Hollingshead of Edmonton for Bedlam. Published by Harper Collins
• Tyler Trafford of Calgary for The Story of Blue Eye. Published by Thistledown Press

Finalists other than the winner will each receive $1,000.

The afternoon ceremony will be hosted by emcee  Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, Executive Director of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and will include remarks from Alberta Scene producer and executive director Heather Moore, and The Honourable Gary Mar, Minister of Alberta Community Development.

The prize is named after the late Lieutenant Governor of Alberta and former Calgary mayor who authored more than 50 books.  Founded shortly after MacEwan’s death in 2000, the Grant MacEwan Literary Awards were created by the Alberta government to honour and commemorate the lifelong achievements and literary excellence of one of its leading citizens.

Recipients of this award are chosen by a panel of expert jurors and previous winners include Governor General’s award nominee Fred Stenson and Writers’ Trust Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize winner Ken McGoogan.

Admission is free and members of the general public are invited to attend.

Members of the public are also invited to attend a reading by this year’s reading later that night, at 7:30 pm in Room A of Library and Archives Canada.

The National Arts Centre’s Alberta Scene is the second in a series of biennial regional festivals to take place in the nation’s capital which will showcase the best in Canadian arts and culture from coast to coast to coast. Six hundred established and emerging artists from Alberta will take part in over 95 events ranging from theatre, visual arts, film and literature, to country, Aboriginal, pop and classical music – and even culinary arts. For 13 days beginning April 28, 2005 and ending on May 10, 2005, it will be as if Alberta has moved to the nation’s capital.

Alberta Scene is presented by EPCOR and supported by Major Sponsors TSX Venture Exchange, The Banff Centre, and National Arts Centre Friends - Alberta. Performance Sponsors are Enbridge, CIBC, Suncor Energy Inc. and Capital Health. Media sponsors include CBC Radio-Canada, the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, LeDroit, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald, and Y1O1 FM. Supporting Sponsors include Edmonton Festival City, Galaxie, CD Warehouse, mymusic.ca, Holiday Inn, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, Big Rock Brewery and Farm Boy.

Alberta Scene is grateful for support from the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Canada Council for the Arts, Western Economic Diversification Canada, and Foreign Affairs Canada.

Tickets for all Alberta Scene events are available in person at the NAC Box Office, or through Ticketmaster at (613) 755-1111 (a service charge applies to all Ticketmaster purchases), or online at www.nac-cna.ca For a detailed schedule of events and ticket information please visit www.albertascene.ca.

BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
National Arts Centre
53 rue Elgin Street, Ottawa ON
Tel/Tél : 613.947.7000
www.nac-cna.ca
www.albertascene.ca

For information, please contact:
Mary Gordon
Communications Advisor, National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000, ext. 524
Cell: (613) 614-3877