On October 5, at the Toronto Book Awards 2021 ceremony, Mayor John Tory praised Toronto's "endless supply of great stories". This sentiment was echoed by Kim Echlin as she accepted the award saying, "In Toronto, we keep working together to know each other's stories and to give each other safe...
The shortlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize was announced on October 5, 2021. The prize was established in 1994 and named after literary journalist Doris Giller. Short story collections and novels are eligible for the award which is the most lucrative in Canada. The winner of the Giller receives $100,...
When I was a child I dreamed about becoming an ecologist even though I wasn't exactly sure what ecologists did. Fast forward some years later, my dream was to work in a library. Fast forward many years later, to today, and my dream has changed again. I guess that's the...
There are 100 libraries in Toronto and each branch has its own character, collection and community. Cookbooks are popular in most of the branches, even with the advent of online sources for recipes. Some older books have withstood the test of time being borrowed over and over, and in a...
Love comes in many forms, so it makes sense that there are many ways to complete TPL Reading Challenge's "a book about love (not just the romantic kind)" category. Library staff and Reading Challenge participants have shared their favourite books which explore romantic love, self-love, platonic love and more. Universal...
Valerie and her team of selectors evaluate about 400 adult print books per week for Toronto Public Library. So when she says she's excited about a new book, we listen. Here are her picks for fall, 2021. If you’ve ever idly wondered what writers would do with their time if...
The Booker Prize shortlist, announced on September 14, celebrates unique stories from around the world. There are three American writers who have been nominated. Nadifa Mohamed, a Somali/British writer, is the only British finalist. Until 2014, the prize was restricted to writers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Commonwealth of Nations...
Grab your controllers, gamers, because Sunday, September 12 was Video Games Day. Video games really do deserve their own day. Actually, in 2021, maybe even a whole month. Video games have entertained us endlessly during lockdowns. They have kept us connected to friends we couldn’t see in person. And studies...
How can you sum up an entire book, with the years of work that went into it, in just one word? Accurately conveying the content and essence of a book via a succinct title is not a job I envy unless I get to use a long subtitle (which in...
The longlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize was announced on September 8, 2021. The Giller, as it's commonly known, is the most lucrative literary award in Canada. The author of the winning receives $100,000 and each of the finalists take home $10,000. Novels, short story collections and graphic novels by...