Toronto Book Awards
In a city as rich in cultural and artistic achievements as Toronto, it isn't surprising to find a substantial annual book award. Nor is it surprising that several of its winners are authors of international acclaim.Since 1974, the Toronto Book Awards recognize authors of books of "literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto." Each year's prize includes a total of $15,000 in prize money divided amongst the finalist and the winner.
The award was first established by the Toronto City Council and continues to be administered by the city. The city appoints an awards committee that reads and evaluates the 60 to 90 books submitted each year. They select the annual shortlist of authors and the actual winner. There are five members of the committee and each member is appointed for two-year terms. The only requirement for being a committee member is that the person be qualified voters in the City of Toronto.
The awards are given in September in downtown Toronto during the Word on the Street festival.
Winners
Year |
Title |
Author |
2005 |
Natasha and Other Stories | David Bezmozgis |
2004 |
Wondrous Strange | Kevin Bazzana |
| Mme. Proust and the Kosher Kitchen | Kate Taylor | |
2003 |
The Song Beneath the Ice | Joe Fiorito |
2002 |
Courage My Love | Sarah Dearing |
2001 |
The Spinster and the Prophet | A.B. McKillop |
2000 |
Mouthing the Words | Camilla Gibb |
1999 |
Benedict Abroad | Richard Outram |
1998 |
Leaving Earth | Helen Humphreys |
1997 |
Fugitive Pieces | Anne Michaels |
1996 |
Shadow Maker | Rosemary Sullivan |
1995 |
Sir Ernest MacMillan | Ezra Schabas |
1994 |
Headhunter | Thomas Findley |
1993 |
Voice-over | Carole Corbeil |
1993 |
China Blues | David Donnell |
1992 |
Hearts of Flame | Katherine Govier |
1991 |
Streets of Attitude | Cary Fagan and Robert MacDonald |
1990 |
Double Take | Hilary Russell |
| Homesick | Guy Vanderhaeghe | |
1989 |
Cat's Eye | Margaret Atwood |
1988 |
In the Skin of a Lion | Michael Ondaatje |
1987 |
Toronto Observed | William Dendy and William Kilbourn |
1986 |
Our Lady of the Snows | Morley Callaghan |
| What's Bred in the Bone | Robertson Davies | |
1985 |
Who Goes to the Park? | Warabe Aska |
| Toronto to 1918 | J.M.S. Careless | |
| The Engineer of Human Souls | Joseph Skvorecky | |
1984 |
Toronto in art | Edith Firth |
| David Boyle | Gerald Killan | |
| The Night the Gods Smiled | Eric Wright | |
1983 |
The Discovery of Insulin | Michael Bliss |
| The Face of Early Toronto | Lucy Booth Martyn | |
1982 |
The Young Vincent Massey | Claude Bissell |
| Lunatic Villas | Marian Engel | |
1981 |
Big Daddy | Timothy Colton |
| Young Mr. Smith in Upper Canada | Mary Larrat Smith | |
| Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig | |
1980 |
Hanging In | Raymond Souster |
| The Jews of Toronto | Stephan Speisman | |
1979 |
A Canadian Millionaire | Michael Bliss |
| Lost Toronto | William Dendy | |
| Fun Tomorrow | John Morgan Gray | |
1978 |
The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company | Christopher Armstrong, H.V. Nelles |
| The Wars | Thomas Findley | |
1977 |
Lady Oracle | Margaret Atwood |
| The Butterfly Ward | Margaret Gibson | |
1976 |
Immigrants | Robert Harney, Harold Troper |
| The Swing in the Garden | Hugh Hood | |
1975 |
Halfway Up Parnassas | Claude Bissell |
| Women at Work | The Labour History Collective | |
| The Learning Machine | Lauren Lind | |
1974 |
O Toronto | William Kurelek |
| Mayor Howland | Desmond Morton | |
| In the Middle of a Life | Richard Wright |
