Looking to add a little Province-based pedigree to your TBR, or just read more from your own backyard? We’ve rounded up the independently-published winners and nominees from literary awards all across Canada to make it easier than ever.
The Awards: BC and Yukon Book PrizesTheir Mandate: Celebrating the Best and Brightest in BC and Yukon: The BC and Yukon Book Prizes celebrate the achievements of British Columbia and Yukon writers, illustrators and publishers.All Lit Up Finalists:Dorothy Livesay Poetry PrizeAntonyms for Daughter by Jenny Boychuk (Véhicule Press)Pebble Swing by Isabella Wang (Nightwood Editions)blue gait by Shauna Paull (Mother Tongue Publishing)No Shelter by Henry Doyle (Anvil Press)Ghosthawk by Matt Rader (Nightwood Editions)Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize + Rodrick Haig-Brown Regional PrizeMonster Child by Rahela Nayebzadah (Wolsak & Wynn)Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature PrizeDear Peter, Dear Ulla by Barbara Nickel (Thistledown Press)
Alberta
The Awards: Alberta Literary AwardsTheir Mandate: Each year, the Alberta Literary Awards, the City of Edmonton and The City of Calgary recognize and celebrate the highest standards of literary excellence from Alberta authors.All Lit Up Finalists:Stephan G. Stephansson Award for PoetryMiraculous Sickness by ky perraun (At Bay Press)Georges Bugnet Award for FictionThe Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed (ECW Press)The Shade Tree by Theresa Shea (Guernica Editions)The 2022 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book PrizeBurning the Night by Glen Huser (NeWest Press)The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed (ECW Press)The 2022 City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize My Mother, My Translator by Jaspreet Singh (Vehicule Press)
The Awards:Trillium Book AwardsTheir Mandate: The Trillium Book Awards, celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, recognizes the best book and best poetry collection by writers from Ontario.All Lit Up Finalists:Trillium Book AwardÆther by Catherine Graham (Wolsak & Wynn)The Pump by Sydney Hegele (Invisible Publishing)Trillium Book Award for PoetryThe Untranslatable I by Roxanna Bennett (Gordon Hill Press)
Quebec
The Awards: Quebec Writers’ Federation AwardsTheir Mandate: QWF administers various awards programs to acknowledge the fine work being done by Quebec’s aspiring, emerging, and established authors and, in the case of the Judy Mappin Community Award, members of the larger literary community.(ALU Note: The QWF awards aren’t announced until later this year, but heck if we’re going to leave out la belle province – here are some winners/finalists from 2021.)All Lit Up Finalists:Le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole / The Cole Foundation Prize for TranslationOrwell in Cuba: How 1984 Came to Be Published in Castro’s Twilight by Donald Winkler (Talonbooks)The A. M. Klein Prize for PoetryI Am the Big Heart by Sarah Venart (Brick Books, WINNER)Because the Sun by Sarah Burgoyne (Coach House Books)Hell Light Flesh by Klara du Plessis (Palimpsest Press)The Fool by Jessie Jones (Goose Lane Editions)The Concordia University First Book PrizeKnot Body by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch (Metatron Press)We, Jane by Aimee Wall (Book*hug Press)The Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-FictionPeacekeeper’s Daughter: A Middle-East Memoir by Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt (Thistledown Press)Music, Late and Soon by Robyn Sarah (Biblioasis)The Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for FictionWe, Jane by Aimee Wall (Book*hug Press)
The Atlantic Provinces
The Awards:The Atlantic Book AwardsTheir Mandate: The Atlantic Book Awards Festival presents seven book awards, including one of Canada’s biggest book prizes, presented along with the Atlantic Legacy Award, honouring an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the advancement and encouragement of the literary arts in Atlantic Canada. All Lit Up Finalists:Nova Scotia Book AwardsEvelyn Richardson Non-Fiction AwardAlexa!: Changing the Face of Canadian Politics by Stephen Kimber (Goose Lane Editions)George Borden Writing for Change AwardMy Daughter Rehtaeh Parsons by Glen Canning (with Susan McClelland) (Goose Lane Editions)Alexa!: Changing the Face of Canadian Politics by Stephen Kimber (Goose Lane Editions)Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction)Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes by Hannah Moscovitch (Playwrights Canada Press)Jude and Diana by Sharon Robart-Johnson (Fernwood Publishing)Atlantic Book AwardsAlistair MacLeod Prize for Short FictionChemical Valley by David Huebert (Biblioasis)The Running Trees by Amber McMillan (Goose Lane Editions)The Love Olympics by Claire Wilkshire (Breakwater Books)J. M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry AwardPoisonous if Eaten Raw by Alyda Faber (Goose Lane Editions)Myself a Paper Clip by Triny Finlay (Goose Lane Editions)Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction AwardConstant Nobody by Michelle Butler Hallett (Goose Lane Editions)Chemical Valley by David Huebert (Biblioasis)Jude and Diana by Sharon Robart-Johnson (Fernwood Publishing)
* * *
Of course, this list doesn’t capture all of the awards that each region of Canada has to offer – it doesn’t even include every category from these awards! But we hope it’s a starting point to read more widely (because Canada is one wide country). Happy reading!
