Six books with links to the University of Regina were among the finalists for the 2004 Saskatchewan Book Awards, announced today by Saskatchewan Book Awards executive director, Joyce Wells.

Among the nominations were five books published by the Canadian Plains Research Center (CPRC) at the University of Regina.

In the Award for Publishing category, two of the six nominations are for CPRC Press publications. Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century edited by Bradford Rennie and Water and Wetland Plants of the Prairie Provinces by Heinjo Lahring were both short listed. CPRC Press has won this award for the past two years.

Michael Snook's Fishing Saskatchewan: An Angler's Guide to Provincial Waters has been nominated in the First Book category. CPRC Press was also honoured in two other publishing categories: Saskatchewan First Nations: Lives Past and Present by former CPRC graduate student, Christian Thompson, is recognized in the First Peoples Publishing Category, and I Could Not Speak My Heart, edited by James McNinch and Mary Cronin from the Faculty of Education, is short listed in the Publishing in Education category.

The sixth book is With Skilful Hand: The Story of King David, written by U of R president David Barnard and published by McGill-Queen's University Press. Starting from biblical stories and the formal history about King David, Barnard builds a fictional account of the king's life as a series of letters from biblical characters.

The winners will be announced at the Saskatchewan Book Awards gala on November 27, 2004. For more information about the shortlist please call Joyce Wells at (306) 569-1228.