SDG Reading Challenge – December 2024

2024 Book Awards: A Year of Literary Excellence

2024 has been an exciting year for literature, with book awards celebrating groundbreaking works of fiction, powerful nonfiction, and debut novels that showcase new voices in the literary world. As we reflect on the most prestigious literary honors, let’s take a closer look at the standout winners from the Giller Prize, Governor General’s Awards, Writers' Trust Awards, Booker Prize, and Pulitzer Prize. From powerful stories to thought-provoking narratives, these award-winning works are set to inspire readers for years to come.

The Prestigious Awards

Each of these awards carries its own weight and significance in the literary world:

• The Giller Prize: Canada’s most prestigious award for fiction, celebrating excellence in Canadian literature. This year's winner was Anne Michaels for Held.
• The Governor General’s Awards: These Canadian awards honor the best in English-language and French-language books, recognizing works across multiple genres. The Governor General's Award for fiction went to Jordan Abel for Empty Spaces.  Marie-Claire Blais won the award for translations for her book Nights Too Short to Dance and Niigaan Sinclair's Wînipêk won the award for nonfiction. 
• The Writers' Trust Awards: Another key Canadian award, celebrating works of outstanding literary merit in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Sheung-King's novel Batshit Seven won the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction prize, recognizing the best novel or short story collection by a Canadian author.  Martha Baillie's memoir There Is No Blue won the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Award for Nonfiction, the largest prize for nonfiction in Canada. 
• The Booker Prize: A globally recognized British award for the best novel written in English, offering one of the highest honors in literature.  The 2024 winner is Samantha Harvey and her novel Orbital
• The Pulitzer Prize: An American prize recognizing excellence across multiple categories, including fiction, nonfiction, and journalism. This year's award for fiction went to Jayne Anne Phillips and new novel Night Watch.

There's more awards to explore!

Check out this list of award winning books.

View Full List