Dundurn | Discover a new story

Jennifer McCartney’s wonderful review of BOY, a sensitive meditation on my novel as a reflection of the stressful pause that COVID-19 has imposed on our lives, has followed me to Ottawa. This is a city not quite in motion, and McCartney’s observations seem particularly apt as I stroll around the downtown with my daughters, Alida, 4, and Nora, 7.

Remember 2019? I sure do. After years of writing, dreaming, querying, pitching, revising, and more dreaming, I signed my very first book deal. The novel in which I poured so much of myself was going to be published in the fall of 2020. What a perfect time to release my first book, I remember thinking. I love fall! And it’s the first year of a new decade!  

I look back at my 2019 self and can’t help but smile. What an innocent fool.

Dundurn Press is thrilled to congratulate author Dennis McConaghy whose 2019 book Breakdown is the winner of the 2019/2020 Donner Prize!