The 2026 Toronto Book Awards is underway–this year’s jury is currently reading submissions. The contest deadline is April 30. A longlist will be announced in July, followed by a shortlist of five finalists in September. The awards will be presented at the Toronto Reference Library on November 10.
Jake Byrne is the author of DADDY (Brick Books, 2024), winner of the 2025 Trillium Award for Poetry, and Celebrate Pride with Lockheed Martin (Wolsak & Wynn, 2023). Jake lives in Toronto.
Kristen den Hartog is a novelist and non-fiction writer whose novels have won the Alberta Trade Fiction Book of the Year and been shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and the Trillium Award. She is the co-author (with her sister Tracy Kasaboski) of two previous non-fiction books: The Occupied Garden: A Family Memoir of War-torn Holland, a Globe & Mail Top 100 selection, and The Cowkeeper’s Wish, praised by Canada’s History as a blend of “graceful prose” and “meticulous research on a stupendous scale.” Work on these two books — intimate histories of ordinary families — sparked the writing of The Roosting Box, about patients and staff at the First World War Christie Street hospital in Toronto, and also prompted den Hartog’s ongoing interest in how war changes the direction of people’s lives so dramatically. In 2024, The Roosting Box was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, whose jury called it a “heartbreaking and humane … tapestry of lives lived.” Kristen den Hartog lives in Lyndhurst, Ontario, and in the west end of Toronto, not far from the site of the former Christie Street Hospital.
Julia Kim is a literary agent based in Toronto. After studying literature in graduate school, she worked as a freelance editor and an Assistant Editor at Dundurn before joining The Rights Factory in 2024. She represents adult fiction and nonfiction, and is keen to support BIPOC and historically underrepresented writers.
Matthew R. Morris is an educator, anti-racism advocate, and writer based out of Toronto. He is the author of national best seller, Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging. Matthew earned a BA (Hons) and an MA in Social Justice Education from the University of Toronto. In addition to teaching, his work and public speaking on the deconstruction of Black masculinity, hip-hop culture, and schooling has taken him across North America to consult on and learn about the challenges facing students and educators in the current education system. He has written articles for TVO, Huffington Post, ETFO Voice, and Education Canada and has been featured in Toronto Star and Sun, on CBC Radio and CityNews.
Bänoo Zan is a poet, translator, and curator, with numerous published pieces and books including Songs of Exile and Letters to My Father. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Canada’s most diverse and brave poetry open mic series (inception 2012). It bridges the gap between poets from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, poetic styles, voices, and visions. Bänoo, with Cy Strom, is the co-editor of the anthology: Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution. She was given Life Membership in the League of Canadian Poets in 2024 and is the recipient of the 2025 Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award.
