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The Evelyn Richardson Prize was established by WFNS in 1977, shortly after Richardson’s death, to honour the best published non-fiction written by a native or resident Nova Scotian. Last year, Marq de Villiers won for his book, The Witch in the Wind: The True Story of the Legendary Bluenose, while previous winners include: Harry Bruce, Alden Nowlan, Joan and Lewis Payzant, Kay Hill, Bruce Armstrong, J. Murray Beck, Brian C. Cuthbertson, Lilias M. Toward, P. B. Waite, Tony Foster, Linda Johns, Harold Horwood, Dean Jobb, Judith Fingard, Robert Pope, Sally Ross and many more. Born in Shelburne County in 1902, Evelyn Richardson is probably best known for her Governor General’s Award-winning book We Keep a Light (McGraw Hill Ryerson, 1945). It is an autobiographical account of the years she and her husband spent on Bon Portage Island, where he was the lightkeeper. There they raised their son and two daughters while developing an ever increasing self-sufficiency on their privately owned portion of the island. We Keep a Light is a kind of Nova Scotian Swiss Family Robinson — the wild nature of the elements providing the warmth, and the determination and ingenuity of Evelyn and Morrill Richardson providing the continuity. Added responsibilities, deprivations and excitement during the Battle of the Atlantic make the account of the Richardsons’ life on Bon Portage even more remarkable. Evelyn Richardson proved that publishers’ rejections, with that hateful phrase “of local interest only,” could be overcome. One of her great accomplishments was to familiarize her national and international readers with her much loved corner of Nova Scotia. Click HERE for submission guidelines. |
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