OCNews

It was no mystery why Frances Greenslade came home with the hardware: her novel Red Fox Road has captured the imaginations of young adult fiction fans and judges alike.

The Crime Writers of Canada announced that Red Fox Road won the Best Juvenile or YA Novel Award, as part of the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.

Announced online last week, the annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. Formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, the awards started in 1984 and have grown from one category to nine categories, including one for best unpublished manuscript.

"Red Fox Road is the novel I wanted to read when I was 13 and dreamed of doing brave things," said Greenslade. "This kind of recognition keeps me writing when I get bogged down in doubts (which happens regularly as I work on a book). And in these pandemic times, I think many writers are feeling like it’s hard to get our books in the hands of readers. So the publicity helps.”

Red Fox Road is the story of 13-year-old Francie, who becomes stranded on a remote road in the Oregon wilderness when the family's truck breaks down. She must use survival skills like building fires and gathering dandelion leaves and fir needles for tea to endure -- but will that be enough when hours stretch into days?

Greenslade has been an Okanagan College English professor since 2005. She has a BA in English from the University of Winnipeg and an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Her first book, a travel memoir called A Pilgrim in Ireland: A Quest for Home, won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Non-Fiction. Her second memoir, By the Secret Ladder: A Mother's Initiation, was published in 2007, and her novel, Shelter, was published in 2011. Red Fox Road is her first novel for young readers. She is currently working on a sequel to Red Fox Road, called Green Mountain Academy.