2025 Ottawa Book Awards nominees explore the human condition 

The finalists for the 2025 Ottawa Book Awards have been announced. This year’s compelling and diverse literary works will explore the human condition and how it is shaped by life’s events – from familial ties and historical narratives to exploring one’s identity and societal changes.  

These annual awards recognize the finest English and French books released in the previous year, authored by 14 local writers, who exemplify Ottawa’s rich literary talent.   

2025 Ottawa Book Awards finalists:   

English Fiction   

• Manahil Bandukwala, Heliotropia (Brick Books)  

• Nina Berkhout, This Bright Dust (Goose Lane Editions)  

• Paul Carlucci, The Voyageur (Swift Press)  

• rob mclennan, On Beauty (University of Alberta Press)  

• Chuqiao Yang, The Last to the Party (Goose Lane Editions)  

English Non-fiction   

• Denise Chong, Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's journey through betrayal, tyranny and abuse (Penguin Random House Canada)  

• Tim Cook, The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism during the Second World War (Penguin Random House Canada)  

• Katherine Leyton, Motherlike (Second Story Press)  

• Misty Pratt, All In Her Head: How Gender Bias Harms Women's Mental Health (Greystone Books)  

• Ian Smillie, Under Development: A journey without maps (Practical Action Publishing)  

Prix du livre d’Ottawa  

• Margaret Michèle Cook, La lumière de minuit (Éditions Malaïka)  

• Emmanuelle Erny, Charlotte au pays des mots (Les Éditions L’Interligne)  

• Monia Mazigh, Histoires de racines (Les Éditions David)  

• Claire Ménard-Roussy, Un lourd prix à payer (Les Éditions David)  

Descriptions of short-listed books and author biographies are available on the Ottawa Book Awards webpage.  

The books of this year’s nominees, as well as those of past years are available at Ottawa Public Library (OPL). An OPL membership card is free for everyone who lives in Ottawa.  

Winners will be announced on Saturday, November 15 at 7 pm at an event hosted by the Ottawa Public Library at Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe. Each winner will receive $7,500, while finalists will each receive $1,000.  

Past winners of the Ottawa Book Awards include Huda Mukbil, Sandra Ridley, Jean Van Loon, Conyer Clayton, Kagiso Lesego Molope, Suzanne Evans, Henry Beissel, John Metcalf and Charlotte Gray.  

Previous winners of the Prix du livre include Sébastien Pierroz, Andrée Christensen, Véronique Sylvain, Blaise Ndala, Pierre-Luc Landry, Alain Bernard Marchand and Nicole V. Champeau.   

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