Harbourfront Festival Prize

About the Prize

From 19842019 the Harbourfront Festival Prize (C$10,000) was presented annually in recognition of an author’s contribution to the Canadian literature community, based on the merits of their own published work and/or the time they have invested cultivating the next generation of voices. The recipients were selected by a jury process and presented with the Prize during the Toronto International Festival of Authors in October.

Past Winners

  • 2019 / Stuart Ross
  • 2018 / Lee Maracle
  • 2017 / Joseph Kertes
  • 2016 / Miriam Toews
  • 2015 / Avie Bennett
  • 2014 / Margaret MacMillan
  • 2013 / Alice Munro
  • 2012 / Austin Clarke
  • 2011 / Seth
  • 2010 / Peter Robinson
  • 2009 / Helen Humphreys
  • 2008 / Wayson Choy
  • 2007 / Christopher Dewdney
  • 2006 / Dionne Brand
  • 2005 / Guy Vanderhaeghe
  • 2004 / Jane Urquhart
  • 2003 / Linda Spalding
  • 2002 / Paul Quarrington
  • 2001 / Daniel David Moses
  • 2000 / Victor Coleman
  • 1999 / Matt Cohen
  • 1998 / Marty Gervais
  • 1997 / Ken Gass
  • 1996 / Timothy Findley
  • 1995 / Douglas George Fetherling
  • 1994 / M.G. Vassanji
  • 1993 / Graeme Gibson
  • 1992 / Alberto Manguel
  • 1991 / Nicole Brossard
  • 1990 / Howard Engel
  • 1989 / Tomson Highway
  • 1988 / Michael Ondaatje
  • 1987 / Barry Callaghan
  • 1986 / Margaret Atwood
  • 1985 / John Robert Colombo
  • 1984 / Dennis Lee

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