The Word On The Street Blog

With only a month left until the festival, The Word On The Street Toronto is happy to announce that we’ll be hosting the authors and editors of all five finalists for the 2017 Toronto Book Awards on Sunday, September 24, at Harbourfront Centre. Be among the first to hear the finalists read from their nominated books at the Toronto Book Awards Tent. Each attending author will read from their work throughout festival day, beginning at 11:00am.

The finalists are:

• James Maskalyk, for book, Life on the Ground Floor, published by Doubleday Canada
• B. Denham Jolly, for his memoir, In the Black: My Life, published by ECW Press
• Jen Agg, for her book, I Hear She’s a Real Bitch, published by Doubleday Canada
• Catherine Hernandez for her novel, Scarborough, published by Arsenal Pulp Press
• Jane Farrow, Rahim Thawer, Jennifer Coffey, Steven Maynard for their work as editors of Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer, published by Coach House Books

The Toronto Book Awards were established by Toronto City Council in 1974 to honour authors of books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto. The winner will be announced on October 12, 2016, at the Toronto Reference Library. This annual awards program is produced by the City of Toronto and the Toronto Public Library.

The Toronto Book Awards Tent also features a program of readings from Diaspora Dialogues.

Diaspora Dialogues invites you to experience your city through the poems and stories of six Toronto writers. Mapping Toronto: Stories From the Six celebrates this city’s diversity with readings and discussion focused on different neighbourhoods throughout the GTA. Show up and rep your community, rediscover Toronto through literature. With writers Catherine Hernandez, Phoebe Wang, Ian Kamau, Nadia Ragbar, Alissa York, and Sofia Mostaghimi. Moderated by Aparita Bhandari.

For more information about the Toronto Book Awards Tent at The Word On The Street, please visit http://www.toronto.ca/book_awards/

To celebrate the announcement of the Toronto Book Award finalists, we are running a contest with a spectacular prize pack. If you win, you’ll receive signed copies of ALL FIVE of the nominated books!

The winner will be chosen by a random draw from everyone who answers the question below correctly.

Contest Rules

• Deadline to enter contest: September 6, 2017, 5:00pm.
• Send in your answer to justin@thewordonthestreet.ca to enter.
• Prize pack must either be picked up at the festival on September 24 OR at The Word On The Street office in Liberty Village (details on date and time TBD).

Contest Question: Who was the winner of the Toronto Book Award last year?

Good luck!