TORONTO, June 22, 2021 - The Honourable Ted Arnott, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, is pleased to announce the 2021 Speaker’s Book Award shortlist:

• Indigenous Toronto: Stories that Carry This Place, Denise Bolduc, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, Rebeka Tabobondung, Brian Wright-McLeod, editors (Coach House Books, 2021)
• Can You Hear Me Now? How I Found My Voice and Learned to Live with Passion and Purpose, Celina Caesar-Chavannes (Penguin Random House Canada, 2021)
• The Queer Evangelist: A Socialist Clergy's Radically Honest Tale, Cheri DiNovo (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2021)
• Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming, Antonio Michael Downing (Penguin Random House Canada, 2021)
• After the Famine: The Irish Family Farm in Eastern Ontario, 1851–1881, Edward J. Hedican (University of Toronto Press, 2020)
• The Don: The Story of Toronto's Infamous Jail, Lorna Poplak (Dundurn Press, 2021)
• Anthem: Rush in the ’70s, Martin Popoff (ECW Press, 2020)

The Speaker’s Book Award celebrates non-fiction works by Ontario authors covering historical and cultural aspects of the province and its residents. Special consideration is given to books focusing on Ontario’s parliamentary heritage and on provincial political discourse.

“I would like to thank all of the authors and publishers for their inspiring and creative submissions,” said Speaker Arnott. “This year’s shortlisted authors wonderfully showcase the amazing talents we have in the province, and the stories they tell capture the rich diversity of the communities in Ontario.”

The winning entry will be announced in the fall. More information about the Speaker’s Book Award, as well as a list of this year’s shortlist books, can be found on the Speaker’s Book Award website.

For more information please contact Haley Shanoff, Exhibits and Programs Coordinator, Parliamentary Protocol and Public Relations, at bookaward@ola.org or 416-325-7500.

Download the news release (PDF).