Ottawa Writers Dominate Prestigious Trillium Book Award

This year Ottawa writers dominated the Trillium Book Award shortlist.

Four of the five finalists in the French category and two of the three finalists in the poetry category were Ottawa based! Past winners of the prestigious literary award include Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro.

“This year’s Trillium Book Award finalists continue to reflect the breadth, depth and diversity of Ontario’s authors,” says Karen Thorne-Stone, president and CEO of Ontario Media Development Corporation.

And the winner is…

The Trillium Book Award in English-language is:
Kate Cayley, How You Were Born (Pedlar Press)

The Trillium Book Award in French-language is:
Michel Dallaire, Violoncelle pour lune d’automne (Les Éditions L’Interligne)

The Trillium Book Award for Children’s Literature in French-language is:
Micheline Marchand, Mauvaise mine (Les Éditions L’Interligne)

This year’s English-language winner for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry is:
Brecken Hancock, Broom Broom (Coach House Books)

Ottawa’s own Brecken Hancock’s poetry collection Broom, Broom deals with “domestic horror and crisis.”

“The mother-daughter narrative at the heart of the book is based on my mother’s decline due to early onset frontotemporal dementia,” Hancock explains.

Hancock, who was 18 when her mother became ill, says she’s wanted to tell this story for a long time. “Finally I’ve found my way into it through the craft of poems,” she says.

Hancock says it feels right to have been shortlisted for the Trillium award. She believes Ottawa is home to a flourishing poetry scene.

“Ottawa is a really generous and exciting place to be a poet,” Hancock says.

Winning a Trillium Book Award comes with not only an honourable title, but with a monetary prize. Winners of the Trillium Book Award English-language and French-language category receive $20,000. Publishers of the winning books each receive $2,500 to put towards their promotional costs. Winners of the Trillium Book Award for Poetry in English-language and the Trillium Book Award for Children’s Literature in French-language each receive $10,000 and their publishers receive $2,000. And it doesn’t stop there—all finalists receive a $500 honorarium.

“The winners of the 2015 Trillium Book Award reflect the depth of Ontario’s literary talent. Congratulations to the new and established authors and their publishers for enriching our lives by continuing to create stories that we celebrate at home and share with readers around the world,” said Kevin Shea, Chair, Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Congratulations to all finalists and winners!