Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio, Matthew R. Morris, Uzma Jalaluddin on longlist for Toronto Book Awards

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio, Matthew R. Morris, Uzma Jalaluddin are among the longlisted authors for the 2024 Toronto Book Awards. 

Established by Toronto City Council in 1974, the $10,000 Toronto Book Awards honour books that are inspired by the city. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the prize. 

Austria-Bonifacio is nominated for her novel-in-stories Reuniting With Strangers.

When five-year-old Monolith arrives from the Philippines to join his mother in Canada he lashes out, attacking her and destroying his new home. The characters in Reuniting with Strangers are all dealing with feelings of displacement and estrangement caused as a result of migrating to Canada seeking opportunity.

• Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio's fiction tells the stories of Filipino immigrants in Canada

Austria-Bonifacio is a Filipina-Canadian author, speaker and school board consultant who builds bridges between educators and Filipino families. She was on the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize longlist. Reuniting with Strangers was on the longlist for Canada Reads 2024.

LISTEN | Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio on Reuniting with Strangers: 

The Next Chapter10:44Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio explores the Filipino immigrant experience in her debut novel, Reuniting With Strangers

In her first novel, the Toronto community worker and author tells a story about the Filipino diaspora and how a family separated by immigration comes to heal across one Canadian winter.

Morris is longlisted for his essay collection Black Boys Like Me.

The son of a Black immigrant father and a white mother, Morris was influenced by the prominent Black male figures he saw in sports, TV shows and music as he was growing up in Scarborough, Ont. Black Boys Like Me is Morris' debut collection of eight essays that examines his experiences with race and identity throughout his childhood into his current work as an educator.

• Matthew R. Morris writes about growing up Black and navigating race and identity in book Black Boys Like Me

Morris is a writer, advocate and educator based in Toronto. As a public speaker, he has travelled across North America to educate on anti-racism in the education system. Morris was one of the readers for the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize.

LISTEN | Matthew R. Morris on Black Boys Like Me: 

The Next Chapter14:30Matthew R. Morris reflects on growing up in Scarborough in the 90s, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and exploring Black identity

The writer and educator discusses his new nonfiction book, Black Boy Like Me, which explores public education, pop culture and his identity as a young Black man with an immigrant father and a white mother.

Jalaluddin is nominated for her rom-com Much Ado About Nada.

Much Ado About Nada is a take on Jane Austen's Persuasion about Nada Syed, who is almost 30 and still living at home with her parents. She dreams of turning her app Ask Apa into a tech success, but her parents are focused on her finding a partner and getting married. Her best friend Haleema wants things to turn around for Nada and thinks there's no better place to do that than at a large Muslim conference downtown. But when Nada finds out Haleema's fiance Zayn and his brother Baz will be there, she knows she can't go. No matter what. Why? Because her and Baz have history.

• Uzma Jalaluddin takes on Jane Austen's Persuasion in her latest modern Muslim retelling of a rom-com classic

Jalaluddin is an Ontario writer, teacher and parenting columnist known for taking classic romantic comedies and giving them a modern Muslim twist. Her other books include Ayesha at Last and Hana Khan Carries On.

LISTEN | Uzma Jalaluddin on Much Ado About Nada: 

Q20:57Uzma Jalaluddin on her latest novel Much Ado About Nada

Uzma Jalaluddin’s latest novel, “Much Ado About Nada,” tells the story of Nada Syed, a young Muslim woman who’s approaching 30 and being pressured to find a husband by her mother. When she’s forced to attend a Muslim convention, she runs the risk of revealing a secret past she’s kept buried for years. Uzma tells Tom how female ambition inspired the novel, how she goes about writing a great romantic story, and what it’s like having her books being optioned for film.

The complete list of longlisted books is below. 

• The Roosting Box by Kristen Den Hartog 
• I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop
• Reuniting with Strangers by Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio
• Black Boys Like Me by Matthew R. Morris 
• The Rasmussen Papers by Connie Gault 
• The Afterpains by Anna Julia Stainsby 
• The Education of Aubrey McKee by Alex Pugsley
• And the Walls Came Down by Denise Da Costa 
• Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin
• The Master Plan by Michael Healey
• The Suicide Magnet by Paul McLaughlin
• Land of No Regrets by Sadi Muktadir 

Many of the shortlisted books are available in accessible formats on the Centre for Equitable Library Access website. 

The jury is comprised of Desmond Cole, Anthony De Sa, Jane Farrow, Rabindranath Maharaj and Kerri Sakamoto.

The shortlist will be announced later this summer and the winner in November. The shortlisted authors will each receive $1,000.