Established by Toronto City Council in 1974, The Toronto Book Awards honour authors of books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto.

The annual awards offer $15,000 in prize money. Each finalist receives $1,000 and loyalty_management_cover the winning author receives the remaining prize money.
The 2007 winner was Michael Redhill for his novel Consolation published by Doubleday Canada. Previous winners include Margaret Atwood, Kevin Bazzana, David Bezmozgis, Dionne Brand, Sarah Dearing, Robertson Davies, Timothy Findley, Joe Fiorito, Camilla Gibb, Katherine Govier, A.B. McKillop, Anne Michaels, Michael Ondaatje and Kate Taylor.

2009

Winner - Austin Clarke - More , published by Thomas Allen Publishers
Anthony De Sa - Barnacle Love, published by Doubleday Canada
Maggie Helwig - Girls Fall Down, published by Coach House Books
Mark Osbaldeston - Unbuilt Toronto, published by Dundurn Press
Charles Wilkins - In the Land of Long Fingernails, published by Viking Canada

2008
Congratulations to the winner of the 2008 Toronto Book Awards: Glen Downie, for his work of poetry Loyalty Management -

Like a sculptor finding the image trapped within the stone, Glen Downie shapes the shards of history and humanity into arresting poetry in his newest collection. | Judges Report

 
Glen Downie was born in Winnipeg, worked in cancer care for many years in Vancouver, and currently lives in Toronto. He served as Writer-in-Residence at the Medical Humanities Program of Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine in 1999. He has published fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and six books of poetry. His latest collection is Loyalty Management (Wolsak & Wynn, 2007).
 
PUBLICATIONS:
Loyalty Management. Wolsak & Wynn, 2007
Desire Lines. Wolsak & Wynn, 2002
Wishbone Dance. Toronto: Wolsak & Wynn, 1999.
The Angel of Irrational Numbers. Victoria, BC: Press Porcépic, 1991.
Heartland. Oakville, ON: Mosaic, 1990.
An X-Ray of Longing. Winlaw, BC: Polestar Press, 1987.
 

2008 Shortlist:
Elspeth Cameron - And Beauty Answers: The Life of Frances Loring and Florence Wyle
published by Cormorant Books
David Chariandy - Soucouyant published by Arsenal Pulp Press
Glen Downie -Loyalty Management published by Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd.
Elyse Friedman - Long Story Short published by House of Anansi Press Inc.

Barbara Gowdy - Helpless, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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2007 - Michael Redhill, Consolation

2006 - Dionne Brand, What We All Long For

2005 - David Bezmozgis, Natasha and Other Stories

2004 - multiple winners

Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould
Kate Taylor, Mme. Proust and the Kosher Kitchen

2003 - Joe Fiorito, The Song Beneath the Ice

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2002 - Sarah Dearing, Courage My Love

2001 - A.B. McKillop, The Spinster and the Prophet: Florence Deeks, H.G. Wells and the Mystery of the Purloined Past

2000 - Camilla Gibb, Mouthing the Words

1999 - Richard Outram, Benedict Abroad

1998 - Helen Humphreys, Leaving Earth

1997 - Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces

1996 - Rosemary Sullivan, Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen

1995 - Ezra Schabas, Sir Ernest MacMillan: The Importance of Being Canadian

1994 - Timothy Findley, Headhunter

1993 - multiple winners

Carole Corbeil, Voice-Over
David Donnell, China Blues

1992 - Katherine Govier, Hearts of Flame

1991 - Cary Fagan and Robert MacDonald, eds., Streets of Attitude: Toronto Stories

1990 - multiple winners

Hilary Russell, Double Take: The Story of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres
Guy Vanderhaeghe, Homesick

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1989 - Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

1988 - Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion

1987 - William Dendy and William Kilbourn, Toronto Observed: Its Architecture, Patrons and History

1986 - multiple winners

Morley Callaghan, Our Lady of the Snows
Robertson Davies, What's Bred in the Bone

1985 - multiple winners

Warabe Aska, Who Goes to the Park
J.M.S. Careless, Toronto to 1918
Josef Skvorecky, The Engineer of Human Souls

1984 - multiple winners

Edith G. Firth, Toronto in Art
Gerald Killan, David Boyle: From Artisan to Archaeologist
Eric Wright, The Night the Gods Smiled

1983 - multiple winners

Michael Bliss, The Discovery of Insulin
Lucy Booth Martyn, The Face of Early Toronto: An Archival Record 1803-1936

1982 - multiple winners

Claude Bissell, The Young Vincent Massey
Marian Engel, Lunatic Villas

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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

1980 - multiple winners

Raymond Souster, Hanging In
Stephen A. Speisman, The Jews of Toronto: A History to 1937

1979 - multiple winners

Michael Bliss, A Canadian Millionaire
William Dendy, Lost Toronto
John Morgan Gray, Fun Tomorrow

1978 - multiple winners

Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles, The Revenge of the Methodist Bicycle Company
Timothy Findley, The Wars

1977 - multiple winners

Margaret Atwood, Lady Oracle
Margaret Gibson, The Butterfly Ward

1976 - multiple winners

Robert F. Harney and Harold Troper, Immigrants: A Portrait of the Urban Experience 1890-1930
Hugh Hood, The Swing in the Garden

1975 - multiple winners

Claude Bissell, Halfway up Parnassus
The Labour History Collective, Women at Work
Loren Lind, The Learning Machine


1974 - multiple winners

William Kurelek, O Toronto
Desmond Morton, Mayor Howland
Richard B. Wright, In the Middle of a Life

 

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