Gary Barwin won this year’s award and its $15,000 prize money for his book,
Yiddish for Pirates, a tale of
pirates, buried treasure, and a search for the Fountain of Youth, told in the voice
of a 500-year-old Jewish parrot.
Set in the years around 1492, Yiddish for Pirates recounts the compelling story of Moishe, a Bar
Mitzvah boy who leaves home to join a ship's crew, where he meets Aaron, the
polyglot parrot who becomes his near-constant companion. From a present-day Florida nursing home, this
wisecracking yet poetic bird guides us through a world of pirate ships, Yiddish
jokes and treasure maps. But Inquisition
Spain is a dangerous time to be Jewish, and Moishe joins a band of hidden Jews
trying to preserve some forbidden books. He falls in love with a young woman, Sarah;
though they are separated by circumstance, Moishe's wanderings are motivated as
much by their connection as by his quest for loot and freedom. When all Jews
are expelled from Spain, Moishe travels to the Caribbean with the ambitious
Christopher Columbus, a self-made man who loves his creator. Moishe eventually becomes a pirate and seeks
revenge on the Spanish while seeking the ultimate booty: the Fountain of Youth.
This novel was also shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller
Prize and nominated for the Governor-General's Award for Literature.
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