Siblin strikes a chord with two QWF awards

Siblin was heavily nominated for his non-fiction book The Cello Suites. Although the best-selling work did not win a Governor General's Prize on Tuesday, it did score twice at the Quebec Writers' Federation Awards on the same night. Sibling took home the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, as well as the McAuslan First Book Prize, each of which carry a cash prize of $2,000.

He is also nominated for a Writer’s Trust Non-Fiction Prize, which will be announced next week. “I won’t say it’s immaterial whether I win or lose, but it certainly feels terrific having landed these nominations,” Siblin said last week. “In truth, while I was writing the book, I think a lot of my friends and colleagues thought it was very idiosyncratic and uncommercial. So I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see how the book has done.”

Moving elegantly between three narrative strands, the book tells the life story of Johann Sebastian Bach, the story of 20th-century cellist Pablo Casals and his fascination with Bach’s cello suites, and the growth of Siblin’s own interest in Bach’s music. The structure is derived from the suites themselves, tying together music, politics, war, and love. “My goal from the beginning, in terms of writing the book, was can I extract a story from a piece of music?" Siblin reflected. "The book tries to do a lot of things, but one of the hidden agendas of the book is to turn people on to classical music the way that I experienced it. Because before I started on this project I was really a classical neophyte.”

Siblin noted that response from cellists has been “overwhelmingly positive,” with some musicians giving him “the supreme compliment” of saying his book influenced the way they play the music.

The Cello Suites is only Siblin’s first book. “I’m writing fiction now,” he said of his future plans. “That feels every bit as daunting as writing about a piece of music.”

Photo: Marcie Richstone