Toronto authors Melanie Mah, Meaghan Strimas among Trillium Book Award winners

TORONTO - Authors Melanie Mah and Meaghan Strimas are the English-language winners of this year's Trillium Book Awards honouring Ontario-based writers.

Mah, who was born in Rocky Mountain House, Alta., and is now based in Toronto, was awarded the top honour in the literature category for her debut novel “The Sweetest One” (Cormorant Books). The story centres on a teen girl in a small Alberta town living with a crippling fear brought on by belief in a family curse after the deaths of three of her siblings and the departure of a fourth.

Strimas, who grew up in Owen Sound, Ont., and is also based in Toronto, won the poetry prize for her third collection “Yes or Nope” (Mansfield Press). She is an English professor at Humber College and the managing editor of the Humber Literary Review.

The French-language literature prize was awarded to Ottawa-based Jean Boisjoli for his debut novel “La Mesure du temps” (Editions Prise de parole), while the French-language children's literature award went to Ottawa-born Pierre-Luc Belanger for “Ski, Blanche et avalanche” (Editions David).

Recipients of the Trillium Book Award for literature receive $20,000 and their respective publishers receive $2,500 to promote the winning titles. Poetry and children's literature winners each receive $10,000, and their publisher $2,000 for promotion of the titles. Finalists in all categories receive a $500 honorarium.

Now in its 30th year, the Trillium Book Award is billed as Ontario's highest literary honour, with past winners including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, the late Austin Clarke and Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro.

This year's English-language jury included authors Cherie Dimaline, James Grainger, and 2016 Trillium Book Award poetry winner Soraya Peerbaye.

The French-language jury included authors Celine Forcier, Melchior Mbonimpa, and 2001 Trillium Book Award for literature winner Didier Leclair.