The finalists for the 2024 Ottawa Book Awards have been announced. This year’s works showcase a diverse and compelling range of stories on the human experience and how it is shaped by life’s events – from familial ties and personal transformation to exploring one’s identity and societal changes.
These annual awards recognize the finest English and French books released in the previous year, authored by 13 local writers who exemplify Ottawa’s rich literary talent.
2024 Ottawa Book Awards finalists:
English Fiction
- Rebecca Hirsch Garcia, The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories (ECW Press)
- Sneha Madhavan-Reese, Elementary Particles (Brick Books)
- Wayne Ng, The Family Code (Guernica Editions Inc)
- Scott Randall, An Unruly Little Animal (DC Books)
- Sandra Ridley, Vixen (Book*hug Press)
English Non-fiction
- Stephanie Chitpin, Keep My Memory Safe: Fook Soo Am, The Pagoda (Baraka Books)
- Natalie MacLean, Wine Witch on Fire: Rising From the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much (Dundurn Press)
- Huda Mukbil, Agent of Change: My Life Fighting Terrorists, Spies and Institutional Racism (McGill-Queens University Press)
- Brett Popplewell, Outsider: An Old Man, a Mountain and the Search for a Hidden Past (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd)
- Carolyn Whitzman, Clara at the Door with a Revolver (University of British Columbia Press)
French Fiction
- Pierre-Luc Bélanger, Prise Deux (Les Éditions David)
- Sébastien Pierroz, Deux heures avant la fin de l’été (Les Éditions David)
- Michèle Vinet, Jaz (Les Éditions L’Interligne)
Due to an insufficient number of entries, there was no award in the category of French non-fiction.
Descriptions of short-listed books and author biographies are available on the Ottawa Book Awards webpage.
The books of this year’s nominees, as well as those of past years are available at Ottawa Public Library (OPL). An OPL card is free for everyone who lives in Ottawa.
The winners of each category will be announced on Wednesday, October 16. Each winner will receive $7,500, while finalists will each receive $1,000.
Past winners of the Ottawa Book Awards include Jean Van Loon, Nancy Vickers, Tim Cook, Conyer Clayton, Kagiso Lesego Molope, Suzanne Evans, Henry Beissel, John Metcalf, Charlotte Gray, Andrée Christensen, Véronique Sylvain, Blaise Ndala, Pierre-Luc Landry, Alain Bernard Marchand, Margaret Michèle Cook and Nicole V. Champeau.