Hamilton Literary Awards announces winners

By Meredith MacLeodDec 17, 2023

Hamilton Arts Council honours authors in five categories in 30th annual awards ceremony.

The Hamilton Arts Council has revealed the winners in the 30th annual Hamilton Literary Awards, which recognizes and celebrates literary excellence in the Greater Hamilton Area and Six Nations of the Grand River.

The Dec. 14 awards ceremony was hosted in partnership with Hamilton Public Library and sponsors Epic Books, and A Different Drummer Books.

The awards recognize outstanding works published in 2022 across five categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's books, and the Kerry Schooley Book Award. The Kerry Schooley Book Award honours the book that most vividly evokes the essence of Hamilton and its surrounding areas.

Anuja Varghese returned as host for this special occasion. She is a distinguished Hamilton-based QWOC (queer woman of colour), writer, editor, and recipient of the 2023 Governor General's Literary Award in Fiction for her debut short story collection Chrysalis.

WINNER AND NOMINEES

FICTION

Ainslie Hogarth for Motherthing

Robert McGill for A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life

WINNER: Sheila Murray for Finding Edward

NON-FICTION

David J. Forsyth for Alice and the Machine Gunner

WINNER: Joyce Grant for Can You Believe It? How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts

Rollie Pemberton for Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip-Hop, Resistance and Surviving the Music Industry

Carl Watts for I Just Wrote This Five Minutes Ago

POETRY

Gary Barwin for The Most Charming Creatures

WINNER: Fareh Malik for Streams that Lead Somewhere

Chris Pannell for The Fragmentarium and Other Poems

CHILDREN’S BOOK

WINNER: Joyce Grant for Can You Believe It? How to Spot Fake News and Find the Facts

Lawrence Hill for Beatrice and Croc Harry

Sylvia McNicoll for What the Dog Knows