Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio, Maurice Vellekoop among 5 authors on 2024 Toronto Book Awards shortlist

Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio and Maurice Vellekoop are among the five Canadian shortlisted 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 longlisted for the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize. Reuniting with Strangers was on the longlist for Canada Reads 2024. CBC Books named Austria-Bonifacio a writer to watch in 2024.

• The CBC Short Story Prize is currently open: submit your short fiction now!

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.

Vellekoop is nominated for his graphic memoir I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together.

I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together depicts his intense childhood and difficult young adulthood as a young gay person in a strict Christian household. Set in Toronto from the 1970s, Vellekoop begins to see his relationships with his mother and father fracture.

As he ventures out on his own, he explores his passion for art and is set on finding romance and is met with violent attacks and the anxiety surrounding the AIDS era. I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together shows an artist's personal journey to self-love and acceptance.

• Maurice Vellekoop's memoir reflects strained family ties growing up gay and Christian

Vellekoop is a Toronto-born writer and artist. He has been an illustrator for the past three decades, including for companies like Air Canada and Bush Irish Whiskey. He is also the author of A Nut at the Opera.

LISTEN | Maurice Vellekoop on I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together:

The Next Chapter18:56Maurice Vellekoop reflects on family, art, and growing up gay in a religious household

In Maurice Vellekoop’s vividly drawn graphic memoir I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together, we see how faith, family, fraught sexuality and a deep love of art shaped the course of his life.

The 2024 shortlist includes two novels, two nonfiction books and one graphic memoir. The complete list of shortlisted books is below.

• Reuniting with Strangers by Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio
• The Roosting Box by Kristen Den Hartog
• The Rasmussen Papers by Connie Gault
• The Suicide Magnet by Paul McLaughlin
• I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop

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

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

The 2024 awards offer $15,000 in prize money: finalists receive $1,000 and the winning author is awarded $10,000.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at the Toronto Reference Library on Nov. 7, 2024.