Toronto Public Library & City of Toronto Announce 45th Annual Toronto Book Awards Longlist

Toronto is riding high right now as champion city. Just in time, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Public Library have given us a reason to keep on celebrating Toronto talent - off the court and on the page this time, with the Toronto Book Awards longlist announcement. 

This unique award, which has been going since 1974, considers books in all genres that demonstrate literary greatness and evoke the city, rewarding one writer with $15,000.

It's a varied and interesting list this year, with several independent presses (including a triple nomination year for Biblioasis), new writers, and beloved favourites represented. Genre-wise, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and history all make an appearance. 

The Toronto Book Award 2019 longlist: 

• Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (Harper Avenue) 
• Be With: Letters to a Caregiver by Mike Barnes (Biblioasis) 
• Building Resistance: Children, Tuberculosis, and the Toronto Sanatorium by Stacie Burke (McGill-Queen's University Press) 
• Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui (Douglas & McIntyre) 
• Immigrant City by David Bezmozgis (HarperCollins Canada) 
• Late Breaking by KD Miller (Biblioasis) 
• Reproduction by Ian Williams (Random House Canada) 
• The Student by Cary Fagan (Freehand Books) 
• The Ward Uncovered: The Archaeology of Everyday Life edited by John Lorinc, Holly Martelle, Michael McClelland, Tatum Taylor Chaubal (Coach House Books)
• Theory by Dionne Brand (Knopf Canada) 
• They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada by Cecil Foster (Biblioasis) 
• This Country of Mine by Didier Leclair (Deux Voiliers Publishing) 

The shortlist will be announced on August 15, with the winner announced at an October 2 event at the Toronto Reference Library, which will be open to the public. Tickets will be free and available via the Toronto Public Library website in September. 

This year's Toronto Book Awards Committee is comprised of volunteer members Sarah Hagi, Canisia Lubrin, Vicky Mochama, Damian Tarnopolsky, and Daniel Viola.