City of Toronto Book Award
Encyclopedia
The Toronto Book Awards are Canadian
literary awards, presented annually by the city of Toronto
to the author of the year's best fiction or non-fiction book or books "that are evocative of Toronto".
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.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
literary awards, presented annually by the city of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
to the author of the year's best fiction or non-fiction book or books "that are evocative of Toronto".
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
- 1974 - multiple winners
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- William KurelekWilliam KurelekWilliam Kurelek, CM was a Canadian artist and writer. His work was influenced by his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots and his Roman Catholicism.- Life :...
, O Toronto - Desmond MortonDesmond Morton (historian)Desmond Dillon Paul Morton, OC, FRSC, CD is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of the Canadian military, as well as the history of Canadian political and industrial relations....
, Mayor Howland - Richard B. WrightRichard B. WrightRichard B. Wright, CM, is a Canadian novelist.Born in Midland, Ontario, to Laverne and Laura . Wright graduated from Midland high school in 1956, and attended and graduated from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in the area of Radio and TV arts in 1959...
, In the Middle of a Life- 1975 - multiple winners
- Claude BissellClaude BissellClaude Thomas Bissell, was a Canadian author and educator.-Biography:He was the eighth president of the University of Toronto from 1958 to 1971. He played a major part in the expansion of the University of Toronto, tripling the size of the university during his tenure.He was born in Meaford,...
, Halfway up Parnassus - The Labour History Collective, Women at Work
- Loren Lind, The Learning Machine
- 1976 - multiple winners
- Robert F. Harney and Harold TroperHarold TroperHarold Troper is a Canadian writer, historian and academic. He specializes in Jewish Canadian history. Together with Irving Abella he authored None is Too Many, the story of the Canadian government's refusal to allow Jewish immigration from Europe during the Holocaust...
, Immigrants: A Portrait of the Urban Experience 1890-1930 - Hugh HoodHugh HoodHugh John Blagdon Hood, OC was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist and university professor....
, The Swing in the Garden- 1977 - multiple winners
- Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, Lady OracleLady OracleLady Oracle is a novel by Margaret Atwood. It was first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1976.-Plot summary:The novel's protagonist, Joan Foster, is a romance novelist who has spent her life running away from difficult situations. The novel alternates between flashbacks from the past and... - Margaret Gibson, The Butterfly Ward
- 1978 - multiple winners
- Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles, The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company
- Timothy FindleyTimothy FindleyTimothy Irving Frederick Findley, OC, O.Ont was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.-Biography:...
, The WarsThe WarsThe Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I. First published by Clarke Irwin, it won the Governor General's Award for fiction in 1977.-Plot overview:...
- 1979 - multiple winners
- Michael BlissMichael BlissJohn William Michael Bliss, CM, FRSC is a Canadian historian and award-winning author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he has written several important medical biographies, including of Sir William Osler...
, A Canadian Millionaire - William Dendy, Lost Toronto
- John Morgan Gray, Fun Tomorrow
- 1980 - multiple winners
- Raymond SousterRaymond SousterRaymond Holmes Souster, OC is a Canadian poet whose writing career spans almost 70 years. He has published more than 50 volumes of his own verse, and edited or co-edited a dozen volumes of others' poetry...
, Hanging In - Stephen A. Speisman, The Jews of Toronto: A History to 1937
- 1981 - multiple winners
- Timothy Colton, Big Daddy: Frederick G. Gardiner and the Building of Metropolitan Toronto
- Mary Larratt Smith, Young Mr. Smith in Upper Canada
- Helen Weinzweig, Basic Black with Pearls
- 1982 - multiple winners
- Claude BissellClaude BissellClaude Thomas Bissell, was a Canadian author and educator.-Biography:He was the eighth president of the University of Toronto from 1958 to 1971. He played a major part in the expansion of the University of Toronto, tripling the size of the university during his tenure.He was born in Meaford,...
, The Young Vincent Massey - Marian EngelMarian EngelMarian Engel, OC, née Marian Ruth Passmore was an award-winning Canadian novelist.-Summary:Born May 24, 1933 in Toronto, Ontario, to teacher parents Frederick Searle and Mary Elizabeth Passmore...
, Lunatic Villas- 1983 - multiple winners
- Michael BlissMichael BlissJohn William Michael Bliss, CM, FRSC is a Canadian historian and award-winning author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he has written several important medical biographies, including of Sir William Osler...
, The Discovery of Insulin - Lucy Booth Martyn, The Face of Early Toronto: An Archival Record 1803-1936
- 1984 - multiple winners
- Edith G. Firth, Toronto in Art
- Gerald Killan, David Boyle: From Artisan to Archaeologist
- Eric WrightEric Wright (writer)Eric Wright is a professor and Canadian writer of mystery novels.Wright was born on Kennington Park Road, in South London, England. He is the son of seamstress Caroline , and carter Joseph Wright. Wright was born to a large poor family of ten children...
, The Night the Gods Smiled- 1985 - multiple winners
- Warabe Aska, Who Goes to the Park
- J.M.S. Careless, Toronto to 1918
- Josef SkvoreckyJosef ŠkvoreckýJosef Škvorecký, CM is a leading contemporary Czech writer and publisher who has spent much of his life in Canada. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country...
, The Engineer of Human Souls- 1986 - multiple winners
- Morley CallaghanMorley CallaghanMorley Callaghan, was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, TV and radio personality.-Biography:...
, Our Lady of the Snows - Robertson DaviesRobertson DaviesWilliam Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...
, What's Bred in the BoneWhat's Bred in the BoneWhat's Bred in the Bone is the second novel in the Canadian writer Robertson Davies' Cornish Trilogy. It is the life story of Francis or Frank Cornish, whose death and will were the starting point for the first novel, The Rebel Angels....
- 1987 - William Dendy and William KilbournWilliam KilbournWilliam Morley Kilbourn, CM, FRSC was a Canadian author and historian in Toronto, Ontario. Kilbourn's topics cover history, biography, religion and the arts, with a focus on Toronto; he has penned over a dozen books. He was married to the Rev...
, Toronto Observed: Its Architecture, Patrons and History - 1988 - Michael OndaatjeMichael OndaatjePhilip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
, In the Skin of a LionIn the Skin of a LionIn the Skin of a Lion is a novel by Canadian/Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje. It was first published in 1987 by McClelland and Stewart. The novel fictionalises the lives of the immigrants whose contributions to building Toronto in the early 1900s never became part of the city's official history... - 1989 - Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, Cat's EyeCat's Eye (novel)Cat's Eye is a 1988 novel by Margaret Atwood. In it, controversial painter Elaine Risley vividly reflects on her childhood and teenage years... - 1990 - multiple winners
- 1987 - William Dendy and William Kilbourn
- Hilary Russell, Double Take: The Story of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres
- Guy VanderhaegheGuy VanderhaegheGuy Clarence Vanderhaeghe, OC, SOM is a Canadian novelist and short story writer, best known for his two Western novels, The Englishman's Boy and The Last Crossing, set in the 19th century American and Canadian West...
, Homesick- 1991 - Cary FaganCary FaganCary Fagan is a Canadian writer who has published novels, short stories and books for children. His most recent adult novel, Valentine's Fall, was nominated for the 2010 Toronto Book Award. Since publishing his first original children's book in 2001, he has published 12 children's...
and Robert MacDonaldRobert MacDonaldRobert MacDonald may refer to:*Robert David MacDonald , Scottish playwright, translator and theatre director*Robert W. "Bob" MacDonald, insurance executive*Robert MacDonald , British Member of Parliament for Glasgow Cathcart, 1923–1929...
, eds., Streets of Attitude: Toronto Stories - 1992 - Katherine GovierKatherine GovierKatherine Mary Govier is a Canadian novelist. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, she was educated at the University of Alberta and York University. In 1997, she was awarded the Marian Engel Award for a woman writer in mid-career. Prior to that she was shortlisted for the Trillium Award in 1994, and won...
, Hearts of Flame - 1993 - multiple winners
- 1991 - Cary Fagan
- Carole CorbeilCarole CorbeilCarole Corbeil was a Canadian arts critic and novelist. Born in Montreal to Québécois parents, her writing was often informed by the cultural displacement, and the subsequent sense of dual belonging, that she experienced when her parents divorced and her mother remarried to an anglophone...
, Voice-Over - David DonnellDavid DonnellDavid Donnell Donnell moved to Toronto in 1958 before publishing his first book. Poems , During this period Donnell frequented the Bohemian Embassy, where Margaret Atwood, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Milton Acorn, and other poets estabhsh their reputations...
, China Blues- 1994 - Timothy FindleyTimothy FindleyTimothy Irving Frederick Findley, OC, O.Ont was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.-Biography:...
, Headhunter - 1995 - Ezra Schabas, Sir Ernest MacMillan: The Importance of Being Canadian
- 1996 - Rosemary SullivanRosemary SullivanRosemary Sullivan is a Canadian poet, biographer, and anthologist.Sullivan was born in the small town of Valois on Lac St. Louis, which is located just outside of Montreal, Quebec. After graduating from St. Thomas high school, she attended McGill University on a scholarship, and earned her...
, Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen - 1997 - Anne MichaelsAnne Michaels-Background:Anne Michaels was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1958. Michaels attended Vaughan Road Academy and then later the University of Toronto, where she is an adjunct faculty in the Department of English. Her first book, The Weight of Oranges , a volume of poetry, was awarded the Commonwealth...
, Fugitive PiecesFugitive PiecesFugitive Pieces is a novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels. First published in 1996 , it was awarded the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, Orange Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize.... - 1998 - Helen HumphreysHelen HumphreysHelen Humphreys is a Canadian poet and novelist who has written several books. She was born in London, England, and now lives in Kingston, Ontario. When she was younger she was kicked out of high school and had to attend an alternative school to finish her education...
, Leaving Earth - 1999 - Richard OutramRichard OutramRichard Daley Outram was a Canadian poet. Often regarded as a poet's poet, he wrote eleven commercially published books of poetry in addition to the many collections of poetry and prose published under the imprint of the Gauntlet Press...
, Benedict Abroad - 2000 - Camilla GibbCamilla GibbCamilla Gibb is a writer living in Toronto.Born in London, England, she grew up in Toronto and studied at the North Toronto Collegiate Institute and the Jarvis Collegiate Institute...
, Mouthing the Words - 2001 - A.B. McKillop, The Spinster and the Prophet: Florence Deeks, H.G. Wells and the Mystery of the Purloined Past
- 2002 - Sarah Dearing, Courage My Love
- 2003 - Joe Fiorito, The Song Beneath the Ice
- 2004 - multiple winners
- 1994 - Timothy Findley
- Kevin BazzanaKevin BazzanaKevin Bazzana is a Canadian music historian and biographer, best known for his works on the influential Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Bazzana currently lives in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia...
, Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould - Kate TaylorKate Taylor (novelist)Katherine Mary Taylor is a Canadian critic and novelist, a cultural journalist at the Globe and Mail newspaper and author of two novels, Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen and A Man in Uniform....
, Mme. Proust and the Kosher Kitchen- 2005 - David BezmozgisDavid BezmozgisDavid Bezmozgis is a Canadian writer and filmmaker.Born in Riga, Latvia, he came to Canada with his family when he was six. He graduated with a B.A. in English literature from McGill University. Bezmozgis received an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television....
, Natasha and Other StoriesNatasha and Other StoriesNatasha and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Canadian author David Bezmozgis. His first published book, Natasha was published in 2004... - 2006 - Dionne BrandDionne BrandDionne Brand is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was named Toronto's third Poet Laureate in September 2009.-Biography:...
, What We All Long For - 2007 - Michael RedhillMichael RedhillMichael Redhill is an American-born Canadian poet, playwright and novelist.Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Redhill was raised in the metropolitan Toronto, Ontario area. He pursued one year of study at Indiana University, and then returned to Canada, completing his education at York University and the...
, Consolation - 2008 - Glen Downie, Loyalty Management
- 2009 - Austin ClarkeAustin ClarkeAustin Ardinel Chesterfield Clarke, is a Canadian novelist, essayist and short story writer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Born in St...
, More - 2010 - Mark Sinnett, The Carnivore
- 2011 - Rabindranath MaharajRabindranath MaharajRabindranath Maharaj is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, and a founding editor of the literary journal Lichen...
, The Amazing Absorbing Boy
- 2005 - David Bezmozgis
- William Kurelek
External links
- Toronto Book Awards (City of Toronto Web site)