The Toronto Book Awards are Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the City of Toronto government to the author of the year's best fiction or non-fiction book or books "that are evocative of Toronto".[1] The award is presented in the fall of each year, with its advance promotional efforts including a series of readings by the nominated authors at each year's The Word on the Street festival.
Each author shortlisted for the award receives $1,000, and the winner or winners receive the balance of $15,000.
The award has frequently gone to multiple winners. 1987 was the first time in the history of the award that only a single winner was named.
Winners and nominees
1970s
1980s
Toronto Book Awards winners and finalists, 1980-1989 | Year | Author | Title | Result | Ref. |
| 1980 | Raymond Souster | Hanging In | Winner | [11] |
| Stephen A. Speisman | The Jews of Toronto: A History to 1937 | Winner |
| Eric Arthur | From Front Street to Queen's Park: The Story of Ontario's Parliament Buildings | Finalist | [12] |
| Margaret Atwood | Life Before Man | Finalist |
| Shirley Faessler | Everything in the Window | Finalist |
| Hugh Hood | Reservoir Ravine | Finalist |
| Richard B. Howard | Upper Canada College 1928-1979: Colbourne's Legacy | Finalist |
| Blair G. Laing | Memoirs of an Art Dealer | Finalist |
| 1981 | Timothy Colton | Big Daddy: Frederick G. Gardiner and the Building of Metropolitan Toronto | Winner | [13] |
| Mary Larratt Smith | Young Mr. Smith in Upper Canada | Winner |
| Helen Weinzweig | Basic Black with Pearls | Winner |
| Gregory S. Kealey | Toronto Workers Respond to Industrial Capitalism, 1867-1892 | Finalist | [13] |
| John Lownsbrough | The Privileged Few: The Grange & Its People in Nineteenth Century Toronto | Finalist |
| Austin Seton Thompson | Jarvis Street: A Story of Triumph and Tragedy | Finalist |
| Richard B. Wright | Final Things | Finalist |
| 1982 | Claude Bissell | The Young Vincent Massey | Winner | [14] |
| Marian Engel | Lunatic Villas | Winner |
| Robertson Davies | The Rebel Angels | Finalist | [14] |
| Michael Filey | I Remember Sunnyside | Finalist |
| Bernice Thurman Hunter | That Scatterbrain Booky | Finalist |
| Charles Sauriol | Remembering the Don | Finalist |
| Conn Smythe with Scott Young | If You Can't Beat 'Em in the Alley | Finalist |
| 1983 | Michael Bliss | The Discovery of Insulin | Winner | [15] |
| Lucy Booth Martyn | The Face of Early Toronto: An Archival Record 1803-1936 | Winner |
| Larry Partridge | The Witts | Finalist | [15] |
| Clara Thomas and John Lennox | William Arthur Deacon: A Canadian Literary Life | Finalist |
| Tim Wynne-Jones | The Knot | Finalist |
| 1984 | Edith G. Firth | Toronto in Art | Winner | |
| Gerald Killan | David Boyle: From Artisan to Archaeologist | Winner |
| Eric Wright | The Night the Gods Smiled | Winner |
| Bill Ivy | A Little Wilderness: The Natural History of Toronto | Finalist | |
| Rod McQueen | The Money-Spinners | Finalist |
| Marion Royce | Eunice Dyke: Health Care Pioneer | Finalist |
| 1985 | Warabe Aska | Who Goes to the Park | Winner | [17] |
| J.M.S. Careless | Toronto to 1918 | Winner |
| Josef Skvorecky | The Engineer of Human Souls | Winner |
| Patrick Brode | Sir John Beverley Robinson | Finalist | [18] |
| Margaret McKelvey and Merlyn McKelvey | Toronto: Carved in Stone | Finalist |
| David G. Pitt | E.J. Pratt: The Truant Years 1882-1927 | Finalist |
| Victor L. Russell | Forging a Consensus | Finalist |
| 1986 | Morley Callaghan | Our Lady of the Snows | Winner | [19] |
| Robertson Davies | What's Bred in the Bone | Winner |
| Neil Bissoondath | Digging Up the Mountains | Finalist | [20] |
| Rosemary Donegan | Spadina Avenue | Finalist |
| James Lemon | Toronto Since 1918: An Illustrated History | Finalist |
| Patricia McHugh | Toronto Architecture: A City Guide | Finalist |
| 1987 | William Dendy and William Kilbourn | Toronto Observed: Its Architecture, Patrons and History | Winner | [21] |
| John Coldwell Adams | Sir Charles God Damn: The Life of Sir Charles G.D. Roberts | Finalist | [21] |
| June Callwood | Twelve Weeks in Spring | Finalist |
| Lovat Dickson | The Museum Makers: The Story of the Royal Ontario Museum | Finalist |
| Michael Filey | Not a One-Horse Town: 125 Years of Toronto and Its Streetcars | Finalist |
| Martin O'Malley | Hospital: Life and Death in a Major Medical Centre | Finalist |
| 1988 | Michael Ondaatje | In the Skin of a Lion | Winner | [22] |
| Joan Hollobon | The Lion's Tale: A History of the Wellesley Hospital, 1912-1978 | Finalist | [23] |
| Cyril H. Levitt and William Shaffir | The Riot at Christie Pits | Finalist |
| Tom MacDonnell | Never Let Go: The Tragedy of Kristy McFarlane | Finalist |
| Anna Porter | Mortal Sins | Finalist |
| 1989 | Margaret Atwood | Cat's Eye | Winner | [24] |
| Shirley Faessler | A Basket of Apples | Finalist | [25] |
| Robert Fulford | Best Seat in the House | Finalist |
| Alison Gordon | The Dead Pull Hitter | Finalist |
| Michael Kluckner | Toronto The Way It Was | Finalist |
| Rick Salutin | A Man of Little Faith | Finalist |
| Paul Stuewe | The Storm Below: The Turbulent Life and Times of Hugh Garner | Finalist |
1990s
2000s
2010s
Toronto Book Awards winners and finalists, 2000-2009 | Year | Author | Title | Result | Ref. |
| 2010 | Mark Sinnett | The Carnivore | Winner | [61] |
| Seán Cullen | The Prince of Neither Here Nor There | Finalist | [62] |
| Cary Fagan | Valentine's Fall | Finalist |
| Lauren Kirshner | Where We Have to Go | Finalist |
| Dragan Todorović | Diary of Interrupted Days | Finalist |
| 2011 | Rabindranath Maharaj | The Amazing Absorbing Boy | Winner | [63] |
| James FitzGerald | What Disturbs Our Blood | Finalist | [64] |
| James King | Étienne's Alphabet | Finalist |
| Nicholas Ruddock | The Parabolist | Finalist |
| Alissa York | Fauna | Finalist |
| 2012 | Andrew J. Borkowski | Copernicus Avenue | Winner | [65] |
| Dave Bidini | Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972 | Finalist | [66] |
| Farzana Doctor | Six Metres of Pavement | Finalist |
| Michele Landsberg | Writing the Revolution | Finalist |
| Suzanne Robertson | Paramita, Little Black | Finalist |
| 2013 | Kamal Al-Solaylee | Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes | Winner | [67] |
| Patrick Cummins and Shawn Micallef | Full Frontal T.O. | Finalist | [68] |
| Kevin Irie | Viewing Tom Thomson, A Minority Report | Finalist |
| Aga Maksimowska | Giant | Finalist |
| Katrina Onstad | Everybody Has Everything | Finalist |
| 2014 | Charlotte Gray | The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Country | Winner | [69] |
| Anthony De Sa | Kicking the Sky | Finalist | [68] |
| Carrianne Leung | The Wondrous Woo | Finalist |
| Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis | The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement | Finalist |
| Shyam Selvadurai | The Hungry Ghosts | Finalist |
| 2015 | Emily St. John Mandel | Station Eleven | Winner | [70] |
| André Alexis | Fifteen Dogs | Finalist | [70] |
| Margaret Atwood | Stone Mattress | Finalist |
| Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer | All the Broken Things | Finalist |
| Bruce McDougall | The Last Hockey Game | Finalist |
| 2016 | Cordelia Strube | On the Shores of Darkness, There Is Light | Winner | [71] |
| Howard Akler | Men of Action | Finalist | [71] |
| Ann Y. K. Choi | Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety | Finalist |
| John Lorinc, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg, and Tatum Taylor | The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto’s First Immigrant Neighbourhood | Finalist |
| Marnie Woodrow | Heyday | Finalist |
| 2017 | B. Denham Jolly | In the Black: My Life | Winner | [72] |
| Jen Agg | I Hear She's a Real Bitch | Finalist | [73] |
| Catherine Hernandez | Scarborough | Finalist |
| John Lorinc, Jane Farrow, Stephanie Chambers, Maureen FitzGerald, Tim McCaskell, Rebecka Sheffield, Tatum Taylor, Rahim Thawer, and Ed Jackson | Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer | Finalist |
| James Maskalyk | Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine | Finalist |
| 2018 | David Chariandy | Brother | Winner | [74] |
| Dionne Brand | The Unpublished City | Finalist | [75] |
| Carrianne Leung | That Time I Loved You | Finalist |
| Lee Maracle | My Conversations with Canadians | Finalist |
| Kerri Sakamoto | Floating City | Finalist |
| 2019 | Dionne Brand | Theory | Winner | [76] |
| Mike Barnes | Be With: Letters to a Caregiver | Finalist | [76] |
| Cary Fagan | The Student | Finalist |
| Didier Leclair | This Country of Mine | Finalist |
| Ian Williams | Reproduction | Finalist |
2020s
References
- ^ "About the Toronto Book Awards". City of Toronto, official Web site. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
- ^ William French, "City politics to city prose". The Globe and Mail, April 18, 1974.
- ^ William French, "CanLit rising". The Globe and Mail, April 9, 1974.
- ^ Roy MacSkimming, "Margaret Laurence to receive country's top literary prize". Toronto Star, April 29, 1975.
- ^ Roy MacSkimming, "Author's guerrilla satire a dismal flop". Toronto Star, April 3, 1975.
- ^ Margaret Worthington, "Smelly classroom tale has a happy ending". Toronto Star, May 10, 1976.
- ^ a b Ken Adachi, "Literary mistress-of-all-trades Atwood shares $3,000 book prize". Toronto Star, February 18, 1977.
- ^ Zena Cherry, "Toronto gives merit awards". The Globe and Mail, March 6, 1978.
- ^ Ken Adachi, "City's $3,000 competition drew 38 titles". Toronto Star, February 17, 1978.
- ^ a b Ken Adachi, "3 authors share $5,000 prize from the city". Toronto Star, February 20, 1979.
- ^ Ken Adachi, "Souster's prize well-deserved". Toronto Star, March 9, 1980.
- ^ William French, "Balls! review sparks libel action". The Globe and Mail, February 12, 1980.
- ^ a b "Three books tie for Toronto prize". The Globe and Mail, March 5, 1981.
- ^ a b "Engel, Bissell share $5,000". The Globe and Mail, February 25, 1982.
- ^ a b "Story of insulin wins Toronto book award". Toronto Star, February 25, 1983.
- ^ "Three authors share city award". Toronto Star, March 1, 1985.
- ^ William French, "Awards plagued by controversy". The Globe and Mail, February 12, 1985.
- ^ "Davies, Callaghan share prize". Toronto Star, February 28, 1986.
- ^ "Finalists announced for book awards". Toronto Star, January 22, 1986.
- ^ a b "Architectural book takes civic award". The Globe and Mail, May 1, 1987.
- ^ Ken Adachi, "Michael Ondaatje's novel wins city prize". Toronto Star, April 22, 1988.
- ^ H.J. Kirchhoff, "Finalists named for book awards". The Globe and Mail, February 25, 1988.
- ^ "Atwood takes Toronto book prize". The Globe and Mail, April 27, 1989.
- ^ "Three double nominees for major book awards". Toronto Star, February 28, 1989.
- ^ "Novelist, historian take book prizes". The Globe and Mail, April 26, 1990.
- ^ "Contest finalists announced". Toronto Star, February 28, 1990.
- ^ Philip Marchand, "Short stories collection wins Toronto book prize". Toronto Star, May 23, 1991.
- ^ "Toronto Book Awards finalists named". Toronto Star, April 3, 1991.
- ^ a b "Govier wins Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star, May 21, 1992.
- ^ Michael Smith, "Word on the Street festival celebrates 4th successful year". Toronto Star, September 27, 1993.
- ^ "T.O.'s Best Books". Toronto Star, September 21, 1993.
- ^ "Findley's Headhunter wins book award". The Globe and Mail, September 27, 1994.
- ^ "'94 book fair features words in the street". The Globe and Mail, September 17, 1994.
- ^ "Schabas wins Toronto book award". Montreal Gazette, September 27, 1995.
- ^ "Four book finalists named". Toronto Star, August 24, 1995.
- ^ "Biography wins Toronto Book award". The Globe and Mail, September 30, 1996.
- ^ "City of Toronto Book Award finalists announced". Vancouver Sun, August 24, 1996.
- ^ a b Elizabeth Renzetti, "Fugitive Pieces collects award: Anne Michaels wins $15,000 book prize". The Globe and Mail, September 29, 1997.
- ^ "Humphreys wins book award for her first novel". The Globe and Mail, September 28, 1998.
- ^ "Book prize finalists named". Ottawa Citizen, September 3, 1998.
- ^ "Poet wins Toronto Award at literary festival". The Globe and Mail, September 27, 1999.
- ^ Jennifer Prittie, "Toronto Book Award shortlist chosen from 76 entries". National Post, September 9, 1999.
- ^ "First time novelist wins Toronto literary festival book prize". Prince Rupert Daily News, September 25, 2000.
- ^ Don Wanagas, "Toronto Book Awards finalists announced: Five works on short list: $15,000 in prize money to be awarded". National Post, September 7, 2000.
- ^ "Historian wins $10,000 book award". Moose Jaw Times-Herald, October 1, 2001.
- ^ "Five finalists on the list for $15,000 in prizes in the 2001 Toronto Book Awards". National Post, September 6, 2001.
- ^ a b James Adams, "'Bittersweet' win for author". The Globe and Mail, September 30, 2002.
- ^ "Toronto book award goes to Joe Fiorito". Brantford Expositor, September 20, 2003.
- ^ "Fiorito, four others bid for Toronto book award". Toronto Star, June 18, 2003.
- ^ "Bazzana, Taylor win 2004 Toronto Book Awards". Nelson Daily News, September 10, 2004.
- ^ Rob Shaw, "Authors share book prize". The Globe and Mail, September 10, 2004.
- ^ a b Guy Dixon, "Bezmozgis wins 2005 Toronto Book Award". The Globe and Mail, September 9, 2005.
- ^ "Brand wins book award". Prince George Citizen, September 8, 2006.
- ^ "Dionne Brand, M.G. Vassanji on shortlist for Toronto Book Awards". Canadian Press, June 5, 2006.
- ^ James Adams, "Consolation wins Toronto Book Awards". The Globe and Mail, September 6, 2007.
- ^ "Toronto Book Award nominees announced". The Globe and Mail, June 21, 2007.
- ^ a b Vit Wagner, "Downie wins Toronto Book Award; Loyalty Management takes $15,000 prize". Toronto Star, October 18, 2008.
- ^ Adam McDowell, "Austin Clarke wins Toronto Book Award". National Post, October 16, 2009.
- ^ "2009 finalists named for Toronto Book Awards". The Globe and Mail, September 16, 2009.
- ^ "Mark Sinnett wins Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star, October 15, 2010.
- ^ Mark Medley, "Sean Cullen, Mark Sinnett among 2010 Toronto Book Award Nominees". National Post, September 17, 2010.
- ^ Andrew Gorham, "Rabindranath Maharaj wins Toronto Book Award". The Globe and Mail, October 13, 2011.
- ^ "Toronto Book Awards finalists named". Toronto Star, September 7, 2011.
- ^ "Borkowski wins Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star, October 12, 2012.
- ^ "Bidini vies for Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star, August 28, 2012.
- ^ "Kamal Al-Solaylee wins Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star. October 9, 2012.
- ^ a b Deborah Dundas, "Six finalists vying for 2014 Toronto Book Awards: Winner will be announced at celebration in October". Toronto Star, August 23, 2014.
- ^ Deborah Dundas, "Charlotte Gray's crime book wins Toronto Book Award: True story of 1915 murder captures $10,000 prize". Toronto Star, October 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Dundas, Deborah (October 15, 2015). "Emily St. John Mandel wins 2015 Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star.
- ^ a b Debra Yeo, "Cordelia Strube wins 2016 Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star, October 11, 2016.
- ^ Patrick, Ryan B. (October 13, 2017). "B. Denham Jolly's memoir about growing up Black in Toronto wins Toronto Book Award". CBC News.
- ^ van Koeverden, Jane (August 24, 2017). "Jen Agg, Catherine Hernandez nominated for Toronto Book Awards". CBC News.
- ^ Dundas, Deborah (October 10, 2018). "David Chariandy's novel Brother wins $10,000 Toronto Book Award". Toronto Star.
- ^ van Koeverden, Jane (August 9, 2018). "Dionne Brand, David Chariandy, Lee Maracle shortlisted for $10K Toronto Book Award". CBC News.
- ^ a b Dundas, Deborah (October 2, 2019). "Dionne Brand named winner of 2019 Toronto Book Awards". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
- ^ Porter, Ryan (December 2, 2020). "Desmond Cole will donate half his Toronto Book Award prize winnings as he calls for TPL, city of Toronto "to do better"". Quill and Quire.
- ^ Porter, Ryan (November 2, 2020). "Shortlist announced for $10,000 Toronto Book Awards". Quill and Quire.
- ^ Drudi, Cassandra (October 5, 2021). "Kim Echlin wins $10,000 Toronto Book Award". Quill & Quire.
- ^ Qiao, Vicky (11 August 2021). "Missing From the Village by Justin Ling among six books shortlisted for $10K Toronto Book Awards". CBC News.
- ^ a b "Sarah Polley wins $10K Toronto Book Award for 'brave, intelligent' memoir Run Towards Danger". CBC Books. November 23, 2022.
- ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Wanda Nanibush and Georgiana Uhlyarik win 2023 Toronto Book Award". Quill & Quire, October 11, 2023.
- ^ "Shortlist announced for 2023 Toronto Book Awards". Quill & Quire, September 5, 2023.
- ^ "Maurice Vellekoop wins 2024 Toronto Book Awards". Toronto Today, November 8, 2024.
- ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Five books shortlisted for 2024 Toronto Book Awards". Quill & Quire, September 12, 2024.
External links