Login
Login

Canadian Authors Association

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

The Canadian Authors Association is Canada's oldest association for writers and authors. 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.{{cite book|last=Harrington|first=Lyn|title=Syllables of Recorded Time: The Story of the Canadian Authors Association, 1921–1981|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-w579LS8UU0C&pg=PA22|accessdate=2014-07-10|year=1981|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-0-88924-112-1|pages=21–22}} By the end of its first year the organization had more than 700 members."Some Canadian authors", The Glengarry News, November 25, 1921. from the Glengarry Archives website

In its early years the association was known for its conservative views on literature and its support of traditional writing genres,{{cite book|author=Reingard M. Nischik|title=History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYgTaGwa4nsC&pg=PA154|year=2008|publisher=Camden House|isbn=978-1-57113-359-5|pages=154–155}} including colourful idealized stories in quaint local settings.[http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/thesisfile19471.pdf "The Modern-Realistic Movement in English-Canadian Literature"]. page 6. Colin Hill, Department of English McGill University, Montreal, April 8, 2003 Local chapters of the CAA organized activities to encourage and develop the skills of Canadian writers, including study groups, readings, and workshops.{{cite book|author=W.G. Fleming|title=Educational Contributions of Associations: Ontario's Educative Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jvs2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT251|date=December 15, 1972|publisher=University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division|isbn=978-1-4875-9706-1|pages=251–252}}

In 1919, the CAA founded a magazine, Canadian Bookman.{{cite book|author=William H. New|title=Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkh2vJ_9GpEC&pg=PA566|accessdate=April 22, 2016|year=2002|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-0761-2|page=566}}{{cite book|author1=W.H. New|author2=William Herbert New|title=A History of Canadian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njga9UVBx8YC&pg=PA131|date=August 6, 2003|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-2597-9|page=131}} In 1936, the association founded Canadian Poetry, edited by E. J. Pratt.[http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/hpcanpub/case-study/men-cloth-and-book-ej-pratt-and-lorne-pierce "Men of the Cloth and the Book: E.J. Pratt and Lorne Pierce"]. by Cheryl Cundell, Queen's University

The Canadian Authors Association discussed the idea of awards with Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir (1935-1940) who approved the use of the name of his office in the establishment of the Governor General's Awards in 1936, the first ones being awarded in 1937. They remain Canada's highest literary award, as well as the Canadian Authors Association Awards.See article by Irvine, Professor Andrew: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/bsc/article/view/22260/18075 accessed June 15, 2024. See also: Irvine, Andrew, The Governor General's Literary Awards of Canada: A Bibliography, University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Canada, 2018{{cite web |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-authors-association/ |title=Canadian Authors Association |publisher=Canadian Encyclopedia |accessdate=December 22, 2014 |date=December 16, 2013|author=John Lennox}}

=Notable presidents=

  • Will R. Bird (c. 1949–1950), writer, author, recipient of Ryerson Fiction Award{{cite news|title=Heads Authors' Association|date=July 4, 1950|newspaper=Lethbridge Herald|location=Lethbridge, Alberta|page=16|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-jul-04-1950-1461196/}}{{free access}}
  • 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{{cite news|title=Prof. George Hardy: Author-Educationist |last=Trimmer|first=Bob|date=September 21, 1963|newspaper=Lethbridge Herald|location=Lethbridge, Alberta|page=5 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-sep-21-1963-1461284/}}{{free access}}

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. 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.[https://www.goodreads.com/award/show/12729-canadian-authors-association-award Canadian Authors Association Award Winners] on goodreads.com, retrieved April 22, 2020[https://canadianauthors.org/national/awards/about-the-awards/ About the Awards] on canadianauthors.org, retrieved April 22, 2020

;CAA Award for Fiction (1975–2017)

;CAA Award for Poetry (1975–2017)

;CAA Award for Canadian History (1997–2017)

;CAA Emerging Writer Award (2006–2017)

;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[https://writers.ns.ca/members/profile/320 Wheaton] at Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
  • 2018 Ahmad Danny Ramadan for The Clothesline Swing
  • 2019 Maureen Medved for Black Star
  • 2020 Adrienne Drobnies for Salt and Ashes{{cite web |title=2020 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner |url=https://canadianauthors.org/national/2020-fred-kerner-book-award/ |website=Canadian Authors |date=October 9, 2020 |access-date=27 November 2022}}
  • 2021 Joanna Lilley for Endlings{{cite web |title=2021 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner |url=https://canadianauthors.org/national/2021-fred-kerner-book-award/ |website=Canadian Authors |date=July 16, 2021 |access-date=27 November 2022}}
  • 2022 Catherine Graham for Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric{{cite web |title=2022 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner and Shortlist |url=https://canadianauthors.org/national/fred-kerner-book-awards-2022-winner-and-shortlist/ |website=Canadian Authors |date=June 9, 2022 |access-date=27 November 2022}}
  • 2023 Sophie Jai for Wild Fires{{cite web |title=2023 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner and Shortlist |url=https://canadianauthors.org/national/2023-fred-kerner-book-award-shortlist/ |website=Canadian Authors |date=June 24, 2023 |access-date=6 November 2024}}
  • 2024 Lucian Childs for Dreaming Home{{cite web |title=2024 Fred Kerner Book Award Winner and Shortlist |url=https://canadianauthors.org/national/2024-fred-kerner-book-award-shortlist/ |website=Canadian Authors |date=November 4, 2024 |access-date=6 November 2024}}

References

{{reflist}}

Category:1921 establishments in Canada

Category:Governor General's Awards

Category:Canadian writers' organizations