Best-selling author Alistair MacLeod was named author of the year while his novel, No Great Mischief,was named fiction book of the year on Sunday at the awards banquet of the Canadian Booksellers Association in Toronto.
The CBA prizes, called the Libris Awards, are chosen by members of the booksellers' association. The "People's Choice" award went to Bonnie Burnard for her novel, A Good House.
Other winners included Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill by Ottawa writer Charlotte Gray (non-fiction); Stratford, Ont., writer Timothy Findley (lifetime-achievement); Newfoundland's Donna Morrissey (first-time author) for her novel Kit's Law; Toronto's Kenneth Oppel's young adult novels Silverwing and Sunwing (specialty books); Halifax children's bookstore Woozle's Ltd. (specialty bookseller of the year); Halifax's Frog Hollow Books, Toronto's Books for Business (tied for bookseller of the year); Winnipeg chain McNally Robinson (chain bookseller of the year) and the University of Alberta Bookstore in Edmonton (campus bookstore of the year.
Among other best-of-the-year category winners were Louise Dennys of Knopf Canada (editor); and Kim Fernandes and Marie-Louise Gay (tied for children's-book illustrator of the year).