Toronto, November 15, 2022 – The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor by Anais Granofsky (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 2022) is the winning entry for the 2022 Speaker’s Book Award. The Honourable Ted Arnott, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, made the announcement at a ceremony at the Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, last night.

The Girl in the Middle is the story of a child who spends her life navigating between two very different worlds in Toronto. Alone, Anais and her mother teetered on the poverty line, sharing a mattress in a single room in Parkdale, while her grandparents lived on the mansion-lined Bridle Path. The book offers a powerful lens to explore how two families, one white and one Black, faced systemic oppression spanning multiple generations and came out at opposite economic classes—and how they clashed when they shared a granddaughter.

The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor will be available for sale at the Legislative Gift Shop and featured in the Legislative Library.

Launched in 2012, the Speaker’s Book Award recognizes non-fiction works by Ontario authors reflecting the diverse culture and rich history of the province and of its residents.

For more information on the award, visit the Speaker’s Book Award web site. For media inquiries contact Parliamentary Protocol and Public Relations, at bookaward@ola.org or 416-325-7500.