United States, 12th Nov 2025, -
Conversations with My Mother: A Novel of Dementia on the Maine Coast by Ronald-Stéphane Gilbert has received an Atlas of Stories Award from OneTribune Media. The recognition honors books that “map the literary world with creativity and depth,” highlighting stories that “inspire, educate, and entertain while transcending cultural and imaginative borders.”
OneTribune Media describes the novel as “a piece of literary tidework that erodes slowly and leaves something shining beneath: the recognition that remembering isn’t the opposite of forgetting—it’s what happens in its shadow.”
This recognition adds to Gilbert’s growing list of honors, which include:
- 2025 Finalist, Hawthorne Prize, American Writing Awards
- 2025 Finalist, General Fiction, International Book Awards
- 2025 Finalist, Regional Fiction—Northeast, Indie Excellence Book Awards
- 2025 Distinguished Favorite, New Fiction, Independent Press Awards
- 2025 Honorable Mention, General Fiction, New York Book Festival
- 2025 Honorable Mention, General Fiction, London Book Festival
- 2025 Honorable Mention, General Fiction, Paris Book Festival
- 2022 Honorable Mention, Lorian Hemingway Short Fiction Competition (for an early excerpt)
About the Book
Conversations with My Mother: A Novel of Dementia on the Maine Coast presents a sequence of vignettes portraying the relationship between a mother facing dementia and her adult children as they navigate her decline and the shifting landscape of their coastal hometown. Through its structure and voice, the novel mirrors the fragmentary nature of memory while revealing how empathy and humor can coexist with loss. It is available via major retailers including Amazon.
About the Author
Ronald-Stéphane Gilbert is a retired marketing communications professional born in New England of Québécois heritage. A native French speaker, he wrote Conversations with My Mother following his mother’s experience with dementia. He participates in dementia research studies and lives near the Great Lakes with his wife, Leah, and their Pekingese, Reggie.
