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   From: dalton@nfld.com   
      
   On Jan 23, 2026, David Dalton wrote   
   (in article<0001HW.2F232DE8002EFFBC30B5D238F@news.eternal-september.org>):   
      
   > As part of the 29th annual Newfoundland&  Labrador   
   > Book Awards, presented by WritersNL,   
   >   
   > the E.J.Pratt Family Poetry Prize shortlist is:   
   >   
   > 1. Chores by Maggie Burton   
   > 2. Interrobang by Mary Dalton   
   > 3. Island by Douglas Walbourne-Gough.   
   >   
   > The jurors are Randy Drover, Aaron Tucker, and Christina Wells.   
   >   
   > There will be shortlist readings Jan. 29, 7 p.m., Bannerman Brewing,   
   > and the NLBA Prize Ceremony Jan. 30, 7 p.m., Colonial Building,   
   > here in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.   
   >   
   > I’ll follow up here announcing the winner after the ceremony.   
      
   Mary Dalton won the award.   
      
   Jury Citation:   
      
   Striking, playful, and precise, INTERROBANG embodies its titular punctuation,   
   fusing the questioning and the exclaimed. Contemplating home, community,   
   aging, the lost and forgotten, Mary Dalton carries readers from the shop to   
   the ditch, from dim-lit clubs to Alba’s oak desk, all the while exploring   
   the delicate threads of hearth and heart, and returning most insistently to   
   the textures of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the core of Interrobang lies   
   Dalton’s profound linguistic curiosity; her exploration of vernacular   
   unfolds as both dance and puzzle. Braiding ambiguity, exuberance, and   
   nettle-sharp observation, these poems are richly nostalgic, exceedingly   
   local, yet somehow universal. Close reading is consistently rewarded,   
   revealing hidden delights in the subtle adjustments of language, in lists, in   
   riddles, in unexpected leaps, in the measured cadence of words and lines. The   
   work gathered here can be nothing other than poetry.   
      
   Buy this book from the publisher or your local independent bookseller.   
   Publisher: https://vehiculepress.com/shop/interrobang-by-mary-dalton/   
      
   David Dalton   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)