Canada Invades Italy

Newfoundland author Kenneth J. Harvey has apparently become the first Canadian to win Italy’s Libro del Mare award. He was given this commendation for his 2005 novel, The Town That Forgot How to Breathe, about an insular Newfoundland coastal village suddenly plagued by a mysterious loss of lives. Harvey traveled all the way to the town of Sanremo, on the Italian Riviera, in order to pick up his prize, which came with a check for €5,000 ($7,200). The Libro del Mare, created by Italian literary figure and filmmaker Fulco Quilici, is give out annually to the author of the best book about the sea. The paperback edition of The Town That Forgot How to Breathe is to be released in the States later this month by Picador.