While it may be stretching it a bit to suggest that The Park’s Fish population might be in ascendance, it is safe to say that our aquatic kin made their presence felt at this year’s Chitter Radio Literary Awards.

For the first time since the awards were established eighteen years ago (as The Park Literary Awards), almost every category included at least one entry from our Piscine population.

The humour category overflowed with Fishy fun and foolishness, from the darkly humorous, “Roll Over and Stare” to the somewhat frothy “Flash Fish.” While neither netted first prize in the category (that honour went to “Trooping the Collar” by Clement Samuel Tervuren), their nomination served notice to both the judges and The Park’s readers that aquatic humour has evolved.

Indeed, in her book, “Brevity and the Wit of Sole,” which was nominated in both the humour and memoir categories, Evangeline Solea writes with poignancy about her early career in comedy and humour writing and her fight against the “Flatfish stereotypes.”

“Everywhere, the view was that Fish weren’t funny…particularly Flatfish. And, in the first few years of my career, I was baited constantly, but I refused to give up,” she writes in Chapter 3 of her book which she titled, “Swimming Against the Current.”

Solea’s book won in the memoir category and another Piscine author took home a prize, as well. For her critically-acclaimed work, “The View from Under the Plastic Palace,” Barbara Puntius Everetti was declared the Most Promising Newcomer.

Declan Wolfhound’s critically acclaimed “The Upward Curve” took the prize for best novel, while poet Gwendolyn Slang’s “Locomotion” won the poetry award and short story writer Tedesco Tuatara took home the prize for his twentieth collection, “The Long and Short of It.”

As expected, Tab Tricolore’s most recent volume, “The Feral Roots of our Festive Cuisine,” won in the non-fiction category. It was also no surprise that the award for the best political work went to Dante Reginald Kodiak’s controversial best seller, “If We Chain the World: How Fences Alter the Way We See Ourselves and Others.”

Veteran playwright Imogen Aardeekhoorn, author of the highly acclaimed “Mixed Nuts,” received the prize for her most recent work,”Truffles.” She was also honoured for her efforts on behalf of the Park Repertory Theatre.

As we prepare to enter the third week of June, The Mammalian Daily would like to remind you of several important events that will take place in The Park this month.

Chitter Radio Literary Awards

Formerly The Park Literary Awards, the Chitter Radio Literary Awards are considered the most prestigious literary awards in The Park. Presentation ceremonies: June 15

Feline Fiction Fest

Now in its 15th year, The Park’s Feline Fiction Fest is the world’s only literary festival dedicated to Feline writing. The three-day festival takes place June 16-18

Important Information for Estivators

Last day for pre-estivation bank deposits: June 28

Official Estivation date: June 29

Central Bank of The Park closed for mid-year tally: June 30

The Park Museum has put out a call for historical items that Animals might have inherited from their families

The Park Museum, set to open later this year (barring any unforeseen delays), has put out a call for “personal items of historical interest” that Animals may be in possession of, including items they have purchased for their collections or have inherited from their families.

Sukuta Rhinoceros, one of the founders of The Park Museum and a member of its Board of Governors, made the appeal this week in a number of interviews on radio stations as well as in advertisements in most of The Park’s newspapers.

“What we are looking for are items that date back not just to the founding of zoocracy, but before that. Many Park Animals and their families were living here well before the establishment of Animal self-rule and, undoubtedly, they have items, including photographs, artists’ renderings, and printed materials, that would be of interest to the Museum,” he said.

Other artefacts, including tools and works of art, may also be of interest to the Museum.

The items will be included in an exhibit on Park life and will serve as the major part of the Museum’s collection. Donors who wish to contribute their artefacts to the exhibit maintain ownership of the items, but will be required to surrender them to the Museum on a permanent loan basis, Rhinoceros said.

Those who wish to pursue the matter further or who wish to have their items evaluated by the Museum’s curator may book an appointment at: curator@parkmuseum.info.