Sara O'Leary wins Vicky Metcalf Award at the 2024 Writers' Trust Awards

The Writers' Trust Awards were held last light at CBC's Glenn Gould Studio. More than $330,000 was awarded to Canadian writers across their seven literary awards. Children's book author Sara O'Leary was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People. The $25,000 prize, sponsored by the Metcalf Foundation, is awarded annually to an author of an exceptional body of work in children's literature.

Of O'Leary, the jury said "With deep insight into the unwavering spirit of children, Sara O’Leary shows that her young characters are able to speak for themselves, to overturn assumptions and worn-out ways of seeing. O’Leary has devoted her picture books to complex and playful expressions of how fantasy suffuses our experience of this world—from a poignant account of the young Brontë siblings to loving and outlandish answers to a child’s question, ‘Where did I come from?’ Her direct address to readers is surprising and engaging, initiating a lively conversation or a personal relationship. In celebrating diversity or tracking a little girl’s intensely busy play, O’Leary explores, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly, the possibilities imagination offers. Enhanced by her many gifted illustrators, O’Leary’s willingness to be both fanciful and serious, to take chances with tone, format, and structure, makes each new book a delightful work of spare, neatly crafted words.” —Deirdre Baker, Andrea Curtis and Itah Sadu

Past recipients of the prize include Kyo Maclear, Elise Gravel, Linda Bailey, Marianne Dubuc, Susin Nielsen, Christopher Paul Curtis, Ruby Slipperjack, Alan Cumyn, Jan Thornhill, Cary Fagan, Barbara Reid, Paul Yee, Iain Lawrence, Polly Horvath, Marthe Jocelyn, Michael Kusugak, Martha Brooks, Kenneth Oppel, Marie-Louise Gay, Deborah Ellis, Roslyn Schwartz and Julie Johnston.

To watch the 2024 ceremony, click here. For the complete list of 2024 winners, visit writerstrust.com.