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New and returning faces: 2023 Toronto Book Awards unveils this year’s longlist

Five of the books on the longlist on the floor with stacked upon each other
With over 100 submissions, this year's longlist has been narrowed down to 13. Photo by Owen Thompson.
Owen Thompson - CJRU - Toronto • ON | 04-08-2023
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The Toronto 2023 Book Awards longlist has been announced and 13 books made it.

Organized and created by the city of Toronto in 1974 the awards exist to "honour books of literary merit that are inspired by the city." There are no separate categories for fiction and non-fiction with the list being open to all types of literary works.

The potential winner of the awards can earn a total of $15,000 in prize pool money. With a record 105 submissions for this year's longlist throughout the 49 years of the awards existence. This year's list consists of a wide variety of texts from poetry to fiction. The only thing connecting the winners being their connection to the city of Toronto. Either by the author or the book being from the city.

This years longlist is:

  •       Nomenclature by Dionne Brand (Penguin Random House)
  •       Half-Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano (Penguin Random House)
  •       Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey (HarperCollins)
  •       The Story of Us by Catherine Hernandez (HarperCollins)
  •       Denison Avenue by Daniel Innes & Christina Wong (ECW)
  •       Wild Fires by Sophie Jai (The Borough Press)
  •       On the Ravine by Vincent Lam (Knopf)
  •       Moving the Museum by Wanda Nanibush and Georgiana Uhlyarik (Goose Lane      Editions)
  •       The Melancholy of Summer by Louisa Onomé (HarperCollins)
  •       Finding Edward by Sheila Murray (Cormorant)
  •       Quality Time by Suzannah Showler (M&S)
  •       The Fake by Zoe Whittall (HarperCollins)
  •       Clara at the Door with a Revolver by Carolyn Whitzman (On Point Press)

Notable return to the longlist is 2007’s finalist and award winning author Vincent Lam with his new novel On the Ravine. After 16 years since he was last on the list, his new novel which has made it on is a continuation of the book that landed him on the list in 2007, Bloodletting and other miraculous cures.

“It is really an honour to be on the longest again, this is a really cool award. I think one of the really neat things about the Toronto Book Awards, is that there's no categories, it's open to everything to fiction, nonfiction, children's books, poetry, it's just wide open books, that has something to do with Toronto, by authors who have some connection in Toronto, and don't even have to live here,” says Lam.

Lam is not the only one who stands out on the list. Sheila Murray has made it onto the long list with her debut novel Finding Edward. Released in 2022, Finding Edward took Murray over 10 years to write and multiple drafts. Murray currently lives in Hamilton but lived in Toronto for decades before the move. While aware of the awards they were surprised to find making the longlist

“I heard from my publisher that it was about to happen. I'm really so thrilled with [making it on the list]. I lived in Toronto for a few decades. And, and it's a city I love,” says Murray. “It's a great list. You know, I thought oh, gosh, maybe I have a real shot at this because the book is about Toronto and people have said Toronto was a real character in the book. Then I saw the long lists and such a great bunch of writers and thought, ‘Ah, well, maybe maybe not’.”

The winner of the finalist and winter of the book awards will be announced this upcoming October.

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