Trillium Book Award finalists announced

The finalists for Ontario's highest literary achievement, the Trillium Book Award, were announced on Tuesday.

André Alexis, a previous winner of the prize, is nominated for the English-language Trillium Book Award for The Hidden Keys, about a Toronto thief hired by an aging heroin addict to steal various items from her siblings, while Melanie Mah's coming-of-age tale, The Sweetest One, about a teenage girl who is convinced she'll die if she leaves her hometown, is the other novel nominated for the $20,000 prize.

The finalists also include a book of poetry (Susan Holbrook's Throaty Wipes), two short-story collections (Danila Botha's For All The Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known and Leesa Dean's Waiting for the Cyclone) and a work of non-fiction: Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone) by Kamal Al-Solaylee.

The finalists for the $10,000 Trillium Book Award for Poetry are Laurie D. Graham for Settler Education; Meaghan Strimas for Yes or Nope; and Dane Swan for A Mingus Lullaby.

The finalists for two French-language prizes were also revealed: The nominees for the $20,000 Prix Trillium are Jean Boisjoli for La mesure du temps; Louis L'Allier for Nikolaos, le copiste; Éric Mathieu for Les suicidés d'Eau-Claire; Paul-François Sylvestre for Cinquante ans de « p'tits bonheurs » au Théâtre français de Toronto; and Michèle Vinet for L'enfant-feu.

Finally, the nominees for the $10,000 Trillium Book Award for Children's Literature are Pierre-Luc Bélanger for Ski, blanche et avalanche; Gilles Dubois for Nanuktalva; and Daniel Marchildon for Zazette, la chatte des Ouendats.

The winners will be announced on June 20.