Canadian Authors Association

The Canadian Authors Association is Canada's oldest association for writers and authors.[1] The organization has published several periodicals, organized local chapters and events for Canadian writers, and sponsors writing awards, including the Governor General's Awards.

History

The Canadian Authors Association was founded in 1921. The founding organizers included John Murray Gibbon, Bernard Keble Sandwell, Stephen Leacock, and Pelham Edgar.[2] By the end of its first year the organization had more than 700 members.[3]

In its early years the association was known for its conservative views on literature and its support of traditional writing genres,[4] including colourful idealized stories in quaint local settings.[5] Local chapters of the CAA organized activities to encourage and develop the skills of Canadian writers, including study groups, readings, and workshops.[6]

In 1919, the CAA founded a magazine, Canadian Bookman.[7][8] In 1936, the association founded Canadian Poetry, edited by E. J. Pratt.[9]

The association founded the Governor General's Awards in 1937, Canada's highest literary award, as well as the Canadian Authors Association Awards.[1]

Notable presidents
  • Will R. Bird (c. 1949–1950), writer, author, recipient of Ryerson Fiction Award[10]
  • W. G. Hardy (1950–1952), Professor of Classics at University of Alberta, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Member of the Order of Canada[11]

Awards

The Canadian Authors Awards, originally known as Canadian Authors Association or CAA Awards and now occasionally called Literary Awards, were created in 1975 to fill in for the Governor General’s medals, as these were overtaken by the Canada Council for the Arts, and were presented in multiple categories to authors who are Canadian born or permanent residents.[1] The following is an incomplete list of winners of the award, originally given out in three categories (fiction, poetry and drama), before the category Canadian History and the Emerging Writer Award were added in 1997 and 2006. After 2017 all categories were discontinued and replaced by the Canadian Authors Fred Kerner Award, which had already been accoladed the first time in 2016.[12][13]

CAA Award for Fiction (1975–2017)
CAA Award for Poetry (1975–2017)
CAA Award for Canadian History (1997–2017)
  • 1997 Phil Jenkins for An Acre of Time
  • 1998 Dorothy Harley Eber for Images of Justice
  • 1999 Rod McQueen for The Eatons
  • 2000 D’Arcy Jenish for Indian Fall (The Last Great Days of the Plains Cree and the Blackfoot Confederacy)
  • 2001 Will Ferguson for Canadian History for Dummies
  • 2002 Ken McGoogan for Fatal Passage: The Untold Story of John Rae, the Arctic Adventurer Who Discovered the Fate of Franklin
  • 2003 Derek Hayes for Historical Atlas of Canada
  • 2004 Ishmael Alunik, Eddie D. Kolausok and David Morrison for Across Time and Tundra: The Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic
  • 2005 Charlotte Gray for The Museum Called Canada
  • 2006 J.L. Granatstein for The Last Good War
  • 2007 Mark Zuehlke for For Honour's Sake: the War of 1812 and the Brokering of an Uneasy Peace
  • 2008 Robert Wright for Three Nights in Havana
  • 2009 J.M. Bumsted for Lord Selkirk: A Life
  • 2010 Jonathan F. Vance for A History of Canadian Culture
  • 2011 Shelagh D. Grant for Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America
  • 2012 Richard Gwyn for Nation Maker: Sir John A. MacDonald: His Life, Our Times, Volume Two: 1867–1891
  • 2013 Michael S. Cross for A Biography of Robert Baldwin: The Morning-Star of Memory
  • 2014 Charlotte Gray for The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Nation
  • 2015 Robert Wright for The Night Canada Stood Still
  • 2016 Debra Komer for The Bastard of Fort Stikine: The Hudson's Bay Company and the Murder of John McLoughlin Jr.
  • 2017 Charlotte Gray for The Promise of Canada
CAA Emerging Writer Award (2006–2017)
  • 2011 Titilope Sonuga for Down to Earth
  • 2012 Ryan Flavelle for The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan
  • 2013 Tie: Claire Battershill for several fiction, poetry and review works and Jay Bahadur for journalistic work and The Pirates of Somalia
  • 2014 Grace O'Connell for Magnified World
  • 2015 Kim Fu for For Today I Am a Boy
  • 2016 Kayla Czaga for For Your Safety Please Hold On
  • 2017 Eva Crocker for several anthology stories
CAA Award for Drama (1975–prior 2017)
Canadian Authors Fred Kerner Award
  • 2016 Caroline Vu for Palawan Story
  • 2017 Margo Wheaton for The Unlit Path Behind the House[17]
  • 2018 Ahmad Danny Ramadan for The Clothesline Swing
  • 2019 Maureen Medved for Black Star
  • 2020 Adrienne Drobnies for Salt and Ashes[18]
  • 2021 Joanna Lilley for Endlings[19]
  • 2022 Catherine Graham for Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric[20]

References
  1. John Lennox (December 16, 2013). "Canadian Authors Association". Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  2. Harrington, Lyn (1981). Syllables of Recorded Time: The Story of the Canadian Authors Association, 1921–1981. Dundurn. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-88924-112-1. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  3. "Some Canadian authors", The Glengarry News, November 25, 1921. from the Glengarry Archives website
  4. Reingard M. Nischik (2008). History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian. Camden House. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-1-57113-359-5.
  5. "The Modern-Realistic Movement in English-Canadian Literature". page 6. Colin Hill, Department of English McGill University, Montreal, April 8, 2003
  6. W.G. Fleming (December 15, 1972). Educational Contributions of Associations: Ontario's Educative Society. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. pp. 251–252. ISBN 978-1-4875-9706-1.
  7. William H. New (2002). Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 566. ISBN 978-0-8020-0761-2. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  8. W.H. New; William Herbert New (August 6, 2003). A History of Canadian Literature. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-7735-2597-9.
  9. "Men of the Cloth and the Book: E.J. Pratt and Lorne Pierce". by Cheryl Cundell, Queen's University
  10. "Heads Authors' Association". Lethbridge Herald. Lethbridge, Alberta. July 4, 1950. p. 16.icon of an open green padlock
  11. Trimmer, Bob (September 21, 1963). "Prof. George Hardy: Author-Educationist". Lethbridge Herald. Lethbridge, Alberta. p. 5.icon of an open green padlock
  12. Canadian Authors Association Award Winners on goodreads.com, retrieved April 22, 2020
  13. About the Awards on canadianauthors.org, retrieved April 22, 2020
  14. "Previous Winners". Canadian Authors Association. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  15. CAA winners 2015
  16. CAA winners 2016
  17. Wheaton at Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
  18. "2020 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner". Canadian Authors. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  19. "2021 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner". Canadian Authors. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  20. "2022 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner and Shortlist". Canadian Authors. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
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