Mark Sinnett
Overlooked by the juries determining the finalists and winners of this year's national literary prizes, Kingston, Ont., writer Mark Sinnett snagged the 2010 Toronto Book Award Thursday night for his novel The Carnivore, set in Toronto in the mid-20th century.
" The Carnivore is a captivating story of how memories can shape and define a marriage," the Toronto Public Library's chief librarian Jane Pyper said. "Readers will also enjoy the evocative descriptions of a 1954 Toronto caught in the maelstrom of Hurricane Hazel."
Mr. Sinnett's previous works include an award-winning collection of poetry and The Border Guards, a thriller short-listed for the Arthur Ellis award.
His work, published by ECW Press, was chosen from a list of finalists - all novels - that included Seán Cullen for The Prince of Neither Here Nor There (Puffin Canada); Cary Fagan, for Valentine's Fall (Cormorant Books Inc.); Lauren Kirshner, for Where We Have to Go (McClelland & Stewart Ltd.), and Dragan Todorovic for Diary of Interrupted Days (Random House Canada).
Instituted in 1974, the $15,000 award is granted annually to "books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto." Previous winners include Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Austin Clarke and Dionne Brand.