I’m kind of over dystopian stories.

There, I finally said it. I read 1984 and Brave New World and The Giver when I was young. I’ve read a lot more since then, bookshelves full of destruction and disaster. But here’s my problem with a lot of dystopias: they warn us that the future could be bad. That the apocalypse—environmental, nuclear, viral, the super-patriarchy—is coming if we don’t change our behaviour right now.

But what if we’re already living in the apocalypse?

Jennifer McCartney’s wonderful review of BOY, a sensitive meditation on my novel as a reflection of the stressful pause that COVID-19 has imposed on our lives, has followed me to Ottawa. This is a city not quite in motion, and McCartney’s observations seem particularly apt as I stroll around the downtown with my daughters, Alida, 4, and Nora, 7.

I can’t remember when I discovered fantasy stories. My best guess is inside a comic book panel or when I first saw The NeverEnding Story. It would be cool to remember something like that.

Dundurn Press is thrilled to congratulate YA author Colleen Nelson on receiving two award nominations! Spin, Nelson’s seventh novel for young adults, has been shortlisted for the 2021 Manitoba Young Readers Choice Northern Lights Award as well as the 2020 High Plains Book Award in the Young Adult category.

Dundurn Press is excited to announce that Sadia by Colleen Nelson has won the High Plains Book Award in the YA category!

Sadia follows 15-year-old Sadia Ahmed as she struggles to navigate high school, her passion for basketball, and her Muslim faith, as well as finding the courage to stand up for herself in the face of discrimination. Booklist called Sadia “compelling and relevant,” and in 2019 the book was both nominated for the Forest of Reading’s 2019 Red Maple Award and won the 2019 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award.

April 15, 2019 – Dundurn Press is thrilled to announce that Kristine Scarrow’s If This Is Home, is a finalist for the 2019 Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Snow Willow Award!

If This Is Home is a story of love and family that follows young Jayce, who helps her single mother and cares for her four-year-old sister while her mother works two jobs. When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, Jayce decides to seek out her estranged father in the hopes that he will return to their family and make everything better.

My third young adult novel, The 11th Hour, is a snapshot of the dating relationship between the two main characters, Annika and Dylan. They decide to run away together to start a new life at Dylan’s family cabin. Dylan’s ability to cope in a healthy way is compromised by a series of challenges the couple experiences throughout the day.

“Well, no,” I say, a little taken aback. “I was on the subway during the bombing, so I totally don’t think it’s okay, but it also doesn’t seem right to just let innocent people die.”

Sandra nods. “I understand. But tough times call for tough decisions. We’ve done this to ourselves. Humans...the most destructive species ever. We’ve ruined the biosphere — The Earth — and overpopulated ourselves.”

— excerpt from Finding Jade

We're very thrilled to share the book trailer for Colleen Nelson's YA story on friendship, tradition, and resilience.

Watch the trailer for look at the book.

Fifteen-year-old Sadia Ahmadi, a Muslim immigrant from Syria, learns that young voices can still be powerful in Nelson’s story about being loyal to one’s beliefs.