2 December 2003
John Terpstra Wins
Hamilton & Region Literary Award

Kentville, NS – John Terpstra is the proud recipient of this year’s Hamilton & Region Literary Award for non-fiction for his book Falling Into Place, published in 2002 by Gaspereau Press. The announcement was made at the Hamilton & Region Literary Awards ceremony on Tuesday, November 25, 2003. Hosted by the Hamilton & Region Arts Council and sponsored by local merchants, the awards are granted to authors in the categories of fiction, children’s, non-fiction, anthology, short non-fiction, short fiction and individual poem. Tuesday’s ceremony marked the 11th year of the awards which were created to highlight the vibrant literary culture of the Hamilton area. In previous years Terpstra’s work has won in the poetry category. This year marked his first win in the category of non-fiction book.

Falling Into Place is what happens when one person becomes completely enamoured of the landscape in the city where he lives – especially if this person, like John Terpstra, engages the world with the imagination and curiosity of a poet. Terpstra’s investigations centre around the Iroquois Bar, a giant glacial sandbar which lies beneath one of Hamilton’s busiest transportation corridors. Combining history and geology with gumshoe work and poetic intuition, Terpstra struggles to fathom just how much the physical and social geography of the area has changed since the sandbar was formed, and the meaning of modern society’s constant and often ill-considered alteration of landscape. This book has enjoyed an enthusiastic response from readers across Canada and is now in its second printing.

John Terpstra has published eight books of poetry, including most recently, Disarmament (Gaspereau Press, 2003) and Devil’s Punch Bowl (1998). He was the winner of the 1988 Bressani Prize for poetry and the 1992 CBC Literary Competition. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where he works as a writer and cabinet-maker.

Terpstra’s latest collection of poetry, Disarmament, was released in October 2003 from Gaspereau Press. A launch in Hamilton and tour of southern Ontario will take place early in the new year. For details please contact Gaspereau Press.

For more information contact
Beth Crosby at Gaspereau Press
47 Church Avenue, Kentville, NS, B4N 2M7
902-678-6002, info@gaspereau.com