Trillium Book Award, English

The following is a list of winners and nominees in English-language categories for the Trillium Book Award , a Canadian literary award presented by Ontario Creates to honour books published by writers resident in the province of Ontario. Separate awards have been presented for French-language literature since 1994; for the winners and nominees in French-language categories, see Trillium Book Award, French.

All-genre (1994-2002)

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref
1994	Donald Akenson	Conor: A Biography of Conor Cruise O'Brien; Volume 1 Narrative	Winner	[1]
	Robertson Davies	The Cunning Man	Nominee	[2]
	Bronwyn Drainie	My Jerusalem: Secular Adventures in the Holy City
	Douglas Fetherling	Travels by Night
	Katherine Govier	The Immaculate Conception Photography Gallery
	Christina McCall and Stephen Clarkson	Trudeau and Our Times: Volume 2, The Heroic Delusion
	Alice Munro	Open Secrets
	Oakland Ross	Guerrilla Beach
	Russell Smith	How Insensitive
	M. G. Vassanji	The Book of Secrets
1995	Margaret Atwood	Morning in the Burned House	Winner	[3]
	Wayson Choy	The Jade Peony	Winner
	George G. Blackburn	The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View	Nominee	[4]
	Judith Fitzgerald	River
	Cecil Foster	Sleep On, Beloved
	Robert Fulford	Accidental City: The Transformation of Toronto
	Barbara Gowdy	Mister Sandman
	Denis Smith	Rogue Tory: The Life and Legend of John G. Diefenbaker
	Rosemary Sullivan	Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen
	Larry Turner and John de Visser	Rideau
1996	Anne Michaels	Fugitive Pieces	Winner	[5]
	Dionne Brand	In Another Place, Not Here	Nominee	[6]
	Matt Cohen	Last Seen
	Katherine Govier	Angel Walk
	Janette Turner Hospital	Oyster
	Ann Ireland	The Instructor
	Ann-Marie MacDonald	Fall on Your Knees
	Alice Munro	Selected Stories
1997	Dionne Brand	Land to Light On	Winner	[7]
	Phyllis Grosskurth	Byron: The Flawed Angel	Nominee	[8]
	Elizabeth Hay	Small Change
	Michael Helm	The Projectionist
	Mary Jo Leddy	At the Border Called Hope
	Paul Quarrington	The Boy on the Back of the Turtle
	John Ralston Saul	Reflections of a Siamese Twin
	The STORM Coalition	Oak Ridges Moraine
1998	André Alexis	Childhood	Winner	[9]
	Alice Munro	The Love of a Good Woman
	Barry Callaghan	Barrelhouse Kings	Nominee	[10]
	Alan Cumyn	Man of Bone
	Sandra Gulland	Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe
	Michael Ondaatje	Handwriting
	Shyam Selvadurai	Cinnamon Gardens
	Linda Spalding	The Follow
1999	Alistair MacLeod	No Great Mischief	Winner	[11]
	Stephanie Bolster	Two Bowls of Milk	Nominee	[12]
	Elyse Friedman	Then Again
	Catherine Gildiner	Too Close to the Falls
	David Gilmour	Lost Between Houses
	David Layton	Motion Sickness
	Stuart Ross	Farmer Gloomy's New Hybrid
2000	Don Coles	Kurgan	Winner	[13]
	Margaret Christakos	Charisma	Nominee	[14]
	Deborah Ellis	The Breadwinner
	Dennis Lee	Bubblegum Delicious
	Nega Mezlekia	Notes from the Hyena's Belly
	David Adams Richards	Mercy Among the Children
	Darren Wershler-Henry	The Tapeworm Foundry
2001	Richard B. Wright	Clara Callan	Winner	[15]
	Joan Barfoot	Critical Injuries	Nominee	[16]
	Lee Gowan	Make Believe Love
	Robert Hough	The Final Confession of Mabel Stark
	Chris Jones	Falling Hard: A Rookie's Year in Boxing
	Alice Munro	Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
	Michael Redhill	Martin Sloane
2002	Austin Clarke	The Polished Hoe	Winner	[17]
	Nino Ricci	Testament
	Katherine Ashenburg	The Mourner's Dance	Nominee	[18]
	Dionne Brand	Thirsty
	Claudia Dey	The Gwendolyn Poems
	Steve McCaffery	Seven Pages Missing: Volume 2
	Michael Ondaatje	The Conversations

Prose (2003-present)

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref
2003	Thomas King	The Truth About Stories	Winner	[19]
	Di Brandt	Now You Care	Nominee	[20]
	Pier Giorgio Di Cicco	The Dark Time of Angels
	Barbara Gowdy	The Romantic
	Djanet Sears	Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God
	M. G. Vassanji	The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
2004	Wayson Choy	All That Matters	Winner	[21]
	Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall	Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown	Nominee	[22]
	Roo Borson	Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida
	Catherine Bush	Claire's Head
	Jane Jacobs	Dark Age Ahead
	Alice Munro	Runaway
	Michael Winter	The Big Why
2005	Camilla Gibb	Sweetness in the Belly	Winner	[23]
	F. T. Flahiff	Always Someone to Kill the Doves	Nominee	[24]
	David Gilmour	A Perfect Night to Go to China
	Sheila Heti	Ticknor
	Stephen Lewis	Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa
	Alayna Munce	When I Was Young & In My Prime
2006	Mark Frutkin	Fabrizio's Return	Winner	[25]
	Anar Ali	Baby Khaki's Wings	Nominee	[26]
	Dionne Brand	Inventory
	Bernice Eisenstein	I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors
	Charlotte Gray	Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention
	Wayne Johnston	The Custodian of Paradise
2007	Barbara Gowdy	Helpless	Winner	[27]
	Gil Adamson	The Outlander	Nominee	[28]
	Lorna Goodison	From Harvey River
	Robert Hough	The Culprits
	Dennis Lee	Yesno
	Ray Robertson	What Happened Later
2008	Pasha Malla	The Withdrawal Method	Winner	[29]
	Kevin Connolly	Revolver	Nominee	[30]
	Helen Humphreys	Coventry
	Ibi Kaslik	The Angel Riots
	Nino Ricci	The Origin of Species
	Charles Wilkins	In the Land of the Long Fingernails
2009	Ian Brown	The Boy in the Moon	Winner	[31]
	Margaret Atwood	The Year of the Flood	Nominee	[32]
	Alexandra Leggat	Animal
	Anne Michaels	The Winter Vault
	Alice Munro	Too Much Happiness
	Emily Schultz	Heaven Is Small
	Cordelia Strube	Lemon
2010	Rabindranath Maharaj	The Amazing Absorbing Boy	Winner	[33]
	Emma Donoghue	Room	Nominee	[34]
	James FitzGerald	What Disturbs Our Blood
	Ken Sparling	Book
	Paul Vermeesch	The Reinvention of the Human Hand
	Michael Winter	The Death of Donna Whalen
2011	Phil Hall	Killdeer	Winner	[35]
	Ken Babstock	Methodist Hatchet	Nominee	[36]
	David Bezmozgis	The Free World
	Tony Burgess	Idaho Winter
	Kristen den Hartog	And Me Among Them
	David Gilmour	The Perfect Order of Things
2012	Alice Munro	Dear Life	Winner	[37]
	Tamara Faith Berger	Maidenhead	Nominee	[38]
	Steven Heighton	The Dead Are More Visible
	Thomas King	The Inconvenient Indian
	Emily Schultz	The Blondes
	Linda Spalding	The Purchase
2013	Hannah Moscovitch	This Is War	Winner	[39]
	Craig Davidson	Cataract City	Nominee	[40]
	Barry Dempster	The Outside World
	Lorna Goodison	Supplying Salt and Light
	Helen Humphreys	Nocturne
	Peter Unwin	Life Without Death and Other Stories
2014	Kate Cayley	How You Were Born	Winner	[41]
	Margaret Atwood	Stone Mattress	Nominee	[42]
	Dionne Brand	Love Enough
	James King	Old Masters
	Thomas King	The Back of the Turtle
	Edmund Metatawabin and Alexandra Shimo	Up Ghost River
2015	Kevin Hardcastle	Debris	Winner	[43]
	Lynn Crosbie	Where Did You Sleep Last Night	Nominee	[44]
	Andrew Forbes	What You Need
	Robert Hough	The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan
	Janette Platana	A Token of My Affliction
	Karen Solie	The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out
2016	Melanie Mah	The Sweetest One	Winner	[45]
	André Alexis	The Hidden Keys	Nominee	[46]
	Kamal Al-Solaylee	Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (To Everyone)
	Danila Botha	For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known
	Leesa Dean	Waiting for the Cyclone
	Susan Holbrook	Throaty Wipes
2017	Kyo Maclear	Birds Art Life	Winner	[47]
	Cherie Dimaline	The Marrow Thieves	Nominee	[48]
	Catherine Hernandez	Scarborough
	James Maskalyk	Life on the Ground Floor
	Rebecca Rosenblum	So Much Love
	Leanne Betasamosake Simpson	This Accident of Being Lost
2018	Dionne Brand	The Blue Clerk	Winner	[49]
	Tamara Faith Berger	Queen Solomon	Nominee	[50]
	Claudia Dey	Heartbreaker
	K. D. Miller	Late Breaking
	Miriam Toews	Women Talking
2019	Téa Mutonji	Shut Up You're Pretty	Winner	[51]
	Christina Baillie and Martha Baillie	Sister Language	Nominee	[52]
	Sara Peters	I Become a Delight to My Enemies
	Zalika Reid-Benta	Frying Plantain
	Seth	Clyde Fans
2020	Souvankham Thammavongsa	How to Pronounce Knife	Winner	[53]
	Craig Davidson	Cascade	Nominee	[54]
	Farzana Doctor	Seven
	Emma Donoghue	The Pull of the Stars
	A. F. Moritz	As Far As You Know
2021	Ann Shin	The Last Exiles	Winner	[55]
	Brian Francis	Missed Connections: A Memoir in Letters Never Sent	Nominee	[56]
	Catherine Graham	Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric
	Sydney Hegele	The Pump
	Pamela Korgemagi	The Hunter and the Old Woman
2022	Stuart Ross	The Book of Grief and Hamburgers	Winner	[57]
	Charlie Angus	Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower	Nominee	[58]
	Cliff Cardinal	Shakespeare's As You Like It: A Radical Retelling
	Kathy Friedman	All the Shining People
	Emma Healey	Best Young Woman Job Book
2023	Nina Dunic	The Clarion	Winner	[59]
	Mike Barnes	Sleep is Now a Foreign Country: Encounters with the Uncanny	Nominee	[60]
	D. A. Lockhart	North of Middle Island
	Kathryn Mockler	Anecdotes
	Zalika Reid-Benta	River Mumma
2024	Maurice Vellekoop	I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together	Winner	[61]
	Colin Barrett	Wild Houses	Nominee	[62]
	Morgan Campbell	My Fighting Family: Borders and Bloodlines and the Battles That Made Us
	Canisia Lubrin	Code Noir
	Chido Muchemwa	Who Will Bury You? And Other Stories

Poetry (2003-present)

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref
2003	Adam Sol	Crowd of Sounds	Winner	[19]
	Adam Getty	Reconciliation	Nominee	[20]
	David O'Meara	The Vicinity	Nominee
2004	Maureen Scott Harris	Drowning Lessons	Winner	[21]
	Ray Hsu	Anthropy	Nominee	[22]
	Rachel Zolf	Masque	Nominee
2005	Kevin Connolly	drift	Winner	[23]
	Patria Rivera	Puti/White	Nominee	[24]
	Karen Solie	Modern and Normal	Nominee
2006	Ken Babstock	Airstream Land Yacht	Winner	[25]
	Adam Dickinson	Kingdom, Phylum	Nominee	[26]
	Anita Lahey	Out to Dry in Cape Breton	Nominee
2007	Rachel Zolf	Human Resources	Winner	[27]
	Emily Schultz	Songs for the Dancing Chicken	Nominee	[28]
	Rob Winger	Muybridge's Horse	Nominee
2008	Jeramy Dodds	Crabwise to the Hounds	Winner	[29]
	Joanne Page	Watermarks	Nominee	[30]
	Adam Sol	Jeremiah	Nominee
2009	Karen Solie	Pigeon	Winner	[31]
	Susan Holbrook	Joy Is So Exhausting	Nominee	[32]
	Matthew Tierney	The Hayflick Limit	Nominee
2010	Jeff Latosik	Tiny, Frantic, Stronger	Winner	[33]
	Dani Couture	Sweet	Nominee	[34]
	Shane Neilson	Complete Physical	Nominee
	Peter Norman	At the Gates of the Theme Park	Nominee
2011	Nick Thran	Earworm	Winner	[35]
	Helen Guri	Match	Nominee	[36]
	Jacob McArthur Mooney	Folk	Nominee
2012	Matthew Tierney	Probably Inevitable	Winner	[37]
	Mathew Henderson	The Lease	Nominee	[38]
	Sandy Pool	Undark: An Oratorio	Nominee
2013	Souvankham Thammavongsa	Light	Winner	[39]
	Austin Clarke	Where the Sun Shines Best	Nominee	[40]
	Adam Dickinson	The Polymers	Nominee
2014	Brecken Hancock	Broom Broom	Winner	[41]
	Aisha Sasha John	THOU	Nominee	[42]
	Deanna Young	House Dreams	Nominee
2015	Soraya Peerbaye	Tell	Winner	[43]
	Madhur Anand	A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes	Nominee	[44]
	Damian Rogers	Dear Leader	Nominee
2016	Meaghan Strimas	Yes or Nope	Winner	[45]
	Laurie D. Graham	Settler Education	Nominee	[46]
	Dane Swan	A Mingus Lullaby	Nominee
2017	Pino Coluccio	Class Clown	Winner	[47]
	Puneet Dutt	The Better Monsters	Nominee	[48]
	Phoebe Wang	Admission Requirements	Nominee
2018	Robin Richardson	Sit How You Want	Winner	[49]
	Gwen Benaway	Holy Wild	Nominee	[63]
	Stevie Howell	I left nothing inside on purpose	Nominee
2019	Roxanna Bennett	Unmeaningable	Winner	[51]
	Doyali Islam	heft	Nominee	[52]
	Matthew Walsh	these are not the potatoes of my youth	Nominee
2020	Jody Chan	Sick	Winner	[53]
	Irfan Ali	Accretion	Nominee	[54]
	Canisia Lubrin	The Dyzgraphxst	Nominee
2021	Bardia Sinaee	Intruder	Winner	[55]
	Roxanna Bennett	The Untranslatable I	Nominee	[56]
	Liz Howard	Letters in a Bruised Cosmos	Nominee
2022	Sanna Wani	My Grief, the Sun	Winner	[57]
	Madhur Anand	Parasitic Oscillations	Nominee	[58]
	Laurie D. Graham	Fast Commute	Nominee
2023	A. Light Zachary	More Sure	Winner	[59]
	Britta Badour	Wires That Sputter	Nominee	[60]
	Catriona Wright	Continuity Errors
2024	Jake Byrne	DADDY	Winner	[61]
	Faith Arkorful	The Seventh Town of Ghosts	Nominee	[62]
	Matthew Walsh	Terrarium

References

1. "O'Brien bio author wins Ontario award". Toronto Star , April 27, 1995.
2. Murray Hogben, "Kingston writers in line for Trillium". Kingston Whig-Standard , March 6, 1995.
3. "Atwood and Choy share Trillium prize". Ottawa Citizen , April 24, 1996.
4. "Authors nominated". The Globe and Mail , March 8, 1996.
5. "Anne Michaels wins Trillium". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix , April 19, 1997.
6. "Trillium book-prize shortlist". Montreal Gazette , February 23, 1997.
7. Finbarr O'Reilly, "Brand plucks Trillium". The Globe and Mail , April 4, 1998.
8. "Trillium Book Award nominees include famous and unfamiliar names". Hamilton Spectator , February 25, 1998.
9. "Alice Munro, Andre Alexis share award". Waterloo Region Record , April 17, 1999.
10. "Shortlist picked for Trillium book prize". Toronto Star , March 14, 1999.
11. Paul Gessell, "Ottawa-area poets share French-language Trillium award: Alistair MacLeod of Windsor, Ont., wins the English prize for his first novel". Ottawa Citizen , April 27, 2000.
12. "Layton, MacLeod up for Trillium book prize". The Globe and Mail , March 22, 2000.
13. Finbarr O'Reilly, "Finding success at a mug's game: 'I feel more comfortable saying that I write poetry, rather than that I am a poet,' says Don Coles". National Post , May 10, 2001.
14. "Trillium Prize nominees announced". Cambridge Reporter , March 22, 2001.
15. Sandra Martin, "Wright picks up a Trillium". The Globe and Mail , June 7, 2002.
16. "12 books shortlisted for Trillium award". The Globe and Mail , May 23, 2002.
17. "Trillium book prize winners include Nino Ricci, Austin Clarke". Peterborough Examiner , April 25, 2003.
18. "And the nominees are..." Ottawa Citizen , March 30, 2003.
19. "The Truth About Stories wins Trillium Book Award". Sarnia Observer , May 15, 2004.
20. "Trillium Book Award finalists announced". Niagara Falls Review , April 1, 2004.
21. Anne-Marie Tobin, "Wayson Choy wins Trillium Book Prize for All That Matters". Sault Star , April 29, 2005.
22. "Jane Jacobs, Wayson Choy, Alice Munro shortlisted for Trillium book awards". Canadian Press, April 13, 2005.
23. Judy Stoffman, "Gibb novel set in Africa wins the Trillium". Toronto Star , April 26, 2006.
24. "Lewis nominated for Trillium award". Ottawa Citizen , April 6, 2006.
25. "Mark Frutkin wins Trillium award for Fabrizio's Return". Prince George Citizen , June 13, 2007.
26. James Adams, "Trillium short list announced". The Globe and Mail , May 16, 2007.
27. "Barbara Gowdy wins the Trillium". Harbour City Star, June 18, 2008.
28. "Trillium Book Award announces finalists". The Globe and Mail , May 24, 2008.
29. "Malla, Dodds among Trillium winners". Montreal Gazette , June 18, 2009.
30. "Nino Ricci novel among Trillium Prize contenders". The Globe and Mail , May 28, 2009.
31. Mark Medley, "Good things happen when you follow through; Trillium Prize; Karen Solie, Ian Brown among winners". National Post , June 25, 2010.
32. "Munro and Atwood are among finalists for award". The Daily Gleaner , June 9, 2010.
33. "Absorbing Boy wins Trillium Book award". Calgary Herald , June 21, 2011.
34. Mark Medley, "Emma Donoghue, Michael Winter among nominees for Trillium Book Award". Postmedia News, May 30, 2011.
35. "Poet Phil Hall wins $20,000 Trillium Book Award for Killdeer". Prince George Citizen , June 22, 2012.
36. "Bezmozgis, Babstock among finalists for $20,000 Trilliums". Kamloops Daily News , May 10, 2012.
37. "Alice Munro wins Ontario's Trillium Book Award" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . The Globe and Mail , June 19, 2013.
38. "Finalists for Trillium Book Award announced". Canada NewsWire , May 30, 2013.
39. "Playwright Hannah Moscovitch among 2014 Trillium Book Award winners" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . The Globe and Mail , June 18, 2014.
40. "Finalists for 2014 Trillium Book Award announced". Canada NewsWire , May 21, 2014.
41. Mark Medley, "Author Kate Cayley wins $20,000 Trillium Book Award" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . The Globe and Mail , June 18, 2015.
42. "Hamilton author shortlisted for Trillium prize". Hamilton Spectator , June 3, 2015.
43. Mark Medley (June 22, 2016). "Kevin Hardcastle's Debris wins 2016 Trillium Book Award". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
44. "Six English books, three poetry titles shortlisted for Trillium Book Award". Canadian Press, May 25, 2016.
45. Mark Medley, "Melanie Mah Wins 2017 Trillium Book Award". The Globe and Mail , June 24, 2017.
46. "Six English books, three poetry titles shortlisted for Trillium Book Award". Canadian Press, May 9, 2017.
47. Deborah Dundas, "Kyo Maclear wins $20,000 Trillium Book Award". Waterloo Region Record , June 23, 2018.
48. Deborah Dundas, "Toronto's Cherie Dimaline, Catherine Hernandez are among Trillium Book Award nominees". Toronto Star , May 24, 2018.
49. "Lisa L’Heureux et Diya Lim, prix littéraire Trillium de l’Ontario" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . L'Express , June 14, 2019.
50. "Doom, L'Heureux, Latour, Malette, Ménard finalistes du Prix littéraire Trillium". l-express. 2019-05-14. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
51. Ryan Porter, "Téa Mutonji, Roxanna Bennett win 2020 Trillium Book Awards" Archived 2022-05-22 at the Wayback Machine . Quill & Quire , June 17, 2020.
52. Erin Balser, "Téa Mutonji wins $20K Trillium Book Award, which recognizes best book in Ontario" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . CBC Books, June 18, 2020.
53. Cassandra Drudi, "Souvankham Thammavongsa wins $20,000 Trillium Book Award" Archived 2021-10-26 at the Wayback Machine . Quill & Quire , June 16, 2021.
54. "Craig Davidson, Souvankham Thammavongsa and Canisia Lubrin among finalists for 2021 Trillium Book Awards" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . CBC Books, May 11, 2021.
55. Deborah Dundas, "Toronto writer Ann Shin wins $20,000 Trillium Prize for North Korean novel ‘The Last Exiles’" Archived 2022-11-03 at the Wayback Machine . Toronto Star , June 21, 2022.
56. Sadaf Ahsan, "Gothic stories, genre-defying memoirs among Trillium Book Award finalists" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . Toronto Star , May 10, 2022.
57. "Poet Stuart Ross wins Trillium Book Award for ‘The Book of Grief and Hamburgers’" Archived 2023-06-22 at the Wayback Machine . Toronto Star , June 20, 2023.
58. "MP Charlie Angus, poet Cliff Cardinal among Trillium Book Award nominees" Archived 2023-05-09 at the Wayback Machine . Toronto Star , May 9, 2023.
59. Cassandra Drudi, "Nina Dunic, A. Light Zachary among Trillium Book Award winners". Quill & Quire , June 20, 2024.
60. "Zalika Reid-Benta and Britta Badour among finalists for 2024 Trillium Book Awards". CBC Books, May 7, 2024.
61. "Maurice Vellekoop and Jake Byrne win 2025 Trillium Book Awards". CBC Books, June 18, 2025.
62. Cassandra Drudi, "Canisia Lubrin, Maurice Vellekoop among writers shortlisted for 2025 Trillium Book Awards". Quill & Quire , May 6, 2025.
63. "Doom, L’Heureux, Latour, Malette, Ménard finalistes du Prix littéraire Trillium" Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine . L'Express , May 14, 2009.