On Thursday, June 20, the Creative Ontario organization revealed the names of the winning authors of the 2024 edition of the Trillium Literary Prizes.
In addition to the Trillium Literary Prize awarded for a work in French, two other prizes were awarded to English-speaking authors. THE Trillium Book Award was awarded to Nina Dunic – for the title The Clarionwhile the Trillium Book Award for Poetry fell into the hands of A. Light Zachary, for the collection More Sure.
The French-speaking prize jury selected Nicolas Weinberg from a list of five finalists. This list, unveiled on May 7, included three names associated with the Ottawa region – Andrée Christensen, David Ménard and Paul Ruban – as well as Martin Bélanger, from Toronto.
No French-speaking prize in poetry
The Trillium Poetry Prize in French could not be awarded this year. When the finalists were announced, Creative Ontario indicated that it had not received the minimum number of works necessary to allow the jurors to award this poetry prize. This prize is awarded every other year, alternating with the Trillium children’s book prize – which will be awarded in 2025.
Trillium Literary Prize winners receive $20,000; their respective publishers inherit $2,500 to promote the winning works.
The jury for the 2024 francophone prize included three members: Toronto-born writer Soufiane Chakkouche, known for his thrillers; the poet, literary translator and teacher at the University of Quebec in Outaouais Madeleine Stratford (who was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award four times for her translations); and the co-founder of Éditions de la Bagnole, Jennifer Tremblay, winner of the Governor General’s Award in 2008 for her play The list.
Established in 1987 to recognize literary excellence and the diversity of Ontario writers and writings, the Trillium Literary Prize is in its 37th year.
Short presentations of the finalist authors can be found on Ontario Creates’ Trillium Prize web page.
The list of all winners from past years is available here.
