The City of Toronto and Toronto Public Library have named the eleven 2018 Toronto Book Awards longlisted titles. Established by Toronto City Council in 1974, the awards honour books of literary merit that are evocative of Toronto.
“I would like to congratulate all of the authors and editors for being considered for the Toronto Book Awards,” said Mayor John Tory. “All of your works creatively contribute to the diversity and vitality of the city.”
The long list for the 2018 Toronto Book Awards is:
• Ronna Bloom’s “The More”, published by Pedlar Press
• Dionne Brand curated “The Unpublished City”, published by BookThug
• David Chariandy’s “Brother”, published by McClelland & Stewart
• David Demchuk’s “The Bone Mother”, published by ChiZine Publications
• Jamil Jivani’s “Why Young Men”, published by Harper Collins
• Carrianne Leung’s “That Time I Loved You”, published by Harper Collins
• Lee Maracle’s “My Conversations with Canadians”, published by BookThug
• Daniel McPherson’s “The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern”, published by Dundurn
• Michael Redhill’s “Bellevue Square”, published by Doubleday Canada
• Kerri Sakamoto’s “Floating City”, published by Knopf Canada
• Jordan Tannahill & William Ellis, editors of “The Videofag Book”, published by BookThug
The short list for the Toronto Book Awards will be announced on August 9 and the winner of the 2018 award will be announced on October 10 at an event at the Toronto Reference Library. Members of the public are welcome to attend the awards at the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are free and will be available at http://www.tpl.ca/appelsalon/ in September.
This is the 44th year of the Toronto Book Awards. The annual awards offer $15,000 in prize money. Each shortlisted finalist will receive $1,000, with $10,000 going to the winner. This year’s Toronto Book Awards Committee is comprised of volunteer members Nathan Adler, Susan G. Cole, Kevin Hardcastle, Soraya Peerbaye and Itah Sadu.
More information about the awards is available at http://www.toronto.ca/book_awards and on Twitter at @TOBookAwards and #tobookawards. The Toronto Star is the Toronto Book Awards’ media sponsor.
Toronto Public Library is the world’s busiest urban public library system. Every year, more than 19 million people visit library branches in neighbourhoods across the city and borrow more than 33 million items. To learn more about Toronto Public Library, visit the website at http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ or call Answerline at 416-393-7131. For all the latest buzz about the library, follow @torontolibrary on Twitter.
— Tina Hurl-Priestle