Winner of the 30th Annual 3-Day Novel Contest

About the Book
In 1968, an inconsequential government worker finds himself swept into the mechanism of state oppression when the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia. Put to work processing the warrants for anyone who opposes the new regime, he falls quickly into the moral no-man's-land of repressive bureaucracy. As his signatures send thousands to their fate, a series of encounters with a priest, a prostitute and the ghosts of the disappeared forces him to face the fundamental choice between action and safety.

In the Garden of Men will be released by 3-Day Books and distributed by Arsenal Pulp Press in August 2008.

About the Author
John Kupferschmidt took his inspiration for his winning novel from the experience of his parents, who came to Canada as refugees from the former Yugoslavia and the former Czechoslovakia. John studied International Development at McGill University, during which time he also worked at the Canadian Human Rights Commission in both Ottawa and Montreal. Following his studies, John twice travelled to Africa to work on housing projects in Tanzania and in a Liberian refugee camp. Back home in Canada, he is now active in Habitat for Humanity and was a founding member of the Habitat Canada National Youth Council. He was raised in Oakville, Ontario, and now lives and writes in Ottawa.

2nd Prize Winner
Erin Jeanne Foster-O'Riordan of Edmonton, Alberta

3rd Prize Winner
Matthew Claxton of Langley, British Columbia

2007 Shortlisted Novelists

• Matthew Andrews, Modesto, California
• J. Tynan Burke and Danny Cullenward, Fairfax, California
• M. Burr, North Vancouver, B.C.
• Karen Cressman, Brampton, Ontario
• Louise D’Arcy, Yackandandah, Australia
• Brinley Davis, Gunnison, Colorado
• Paul Dechene, Regina, Saskatchewan
• Gayleen Froese, Edmonton Alberta
• Peter Kryszkiewicz, North Vancouver, B.C.
• Edward Lineberry, Dallas, Texas
• Christopher Meades, Burnaby, B.C.
• Mark Sedore, Toronto, Ontario
• Hilary Smith, Vancouver, B.C.
• Rudy Thauberger, Vancouver, B.C.
• Anderson Todd, Owen Sound, Ontario
• Bryan Ward, Mission, B.C.
• Ben R. Williams, Bassett, Virginia
  
  
• And special mention to Dylan Bates of Scarborough, Ontario