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Discrimination Alleged with Governor General's Awards |
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Written by Wire Services
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Wednesday, 16 November 2005 |
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Hugo Bonjean, Canadian bestselling author of In the Eyes of Anahita - an adventure in search of humanity, accuses The Canada Council of the Arts of discriminatory practice with regard to the selection process for the Governor General's Awards. Bonjean sent in a copy of his bestselling book for the awards and was told it did not qualify because he owned the publishing company.
"The Canada Council of the Arts is a federal institution and is funded by all of our tax dollars. I am a Canadian author, and my book is available throughout the country at all quality bookstores", Bonjean said and added that his book sold more than 5,000 copies in its first six months of publication. Bonjean went on to say, "It is disqualified from being considered for the highest literary award in this country on the basis of the ownership structure of the publishing company. This has nothing to do with the quality of my work and should not even come into consideration. It is just the same as saying, sorry your work does not qualify because of the colour of your skin!"
The Canada Council of the Arts does not accept entries for the Governor General's Awards from self-published authors, and as such excludes a certain group of authors from participating in the Awards program on grounds that have nothing to do with the quality of their work, but rather with an economic choice they have made.
Inspired by his travels in South America as a corporate executive, and with a passion to make a difference for what he calls "the forgotten souls of the world," Hugo Bonjean wrote In the Eyes of Anahita during the winter of 2003/2004. The book is distributed by Hushion House and became available nationwide through all Indigo/Chapters stores as well as other quality bookstores on March 27, 2005.
Since then, Bonjean has toured the country coast to coast and the book has sold more than 7,000 copies. It is anticipated that sales will exceed 10,000 copies in Canada by the end of the year. Word of mouth has proven to be a powerful sales driver for the book.
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