TORONTO, ON – June 19, 2024 - Yesterday, Rakuten Kobo announced the winners of its tenth annual Emerging Writer Prize, adding three new authors from Canada to its growing list of celebrated writers. Debut authors in Nonfiction, Literary Fiction and Mystery were each awarded a $10,000 CAD cash prize, and will receive promotional, marketing and communications support from Kobo throughout the year and beyond, to help drive their success in the world of books.
“We’re deeply inspired by the relentless work debut authors put into getting their work in front of readers, and we created this prize to help support the newest literary talent out of Canada as they work to get a foothold as published authors,” said Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Rakuten Kobo. “This year marks the prize’s 10-year anniversary, which means more than 175 shortlisted authors and now 30 winning books, introducing a plethora of new stories to our country’s cultural fabric. We thank our judges, each an accomplished author in their own right – Robyn Doolittle, Jeanette Lynes, and Ashley Audrain – for working with us to help select this year’s deserving winners, and we look forward to showcasing new authors for years to come. Having Canadian authors judging the prize every year has been essential, and it’s such an honour to have Robyn Doolittle, the 2015 winner in the Nonfiction category, serving as judge on this 10th anniversary.”
The Nonfiction prize has been awarded to Jérémie Harris for Quantum Physics Made Me Do It: A Simple Guide to the Fundamental Nature of Everything, published by Viking.
About the book: Quantum Physics Made Me Do It is a smart, accessible, and engaging adventure through the complex and beautiful world mapped out by modern physics. Jérémie Harris at last offers us a book on quantum physics that the entire universe can enjoy—perhaps together as one big mind.
Author Robyn Doolittle, this year’s Nonfiction judge, said of the book: “Physicist Jérémie Harris tackles complex questions in conversational and hilarious language. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be unable to put down a book on quantum mechanics, but this book is a total page-turner that made me question reality, from zombie cats to parallel universes.”
The Literary Fiction prize has been awarded to Jamaluddin Aram for Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday, published by Simon & Schuster
About the book: In this brilliantly kaleidoscopic, darkly funny, and wholly captivating novel about peace in a time of war, Jamaluddin Aram breathes life into the families and friends, lovers and loners, neighbours and sworn enemies who wander the winding alleys of Wazirabad.
Author Jeanette Lynes, this year’s Literary Fiction judge, said of the book: “Aram’s writing evokes striking dissonances and contrasts that toggle between youth and age, between beauty and the grotesque, and between kindness and brutality. The novel’s world is earthy, visceral, sharp-edged, yet also, at times teeters on the brink of hallucination, madness, or, conversely, miracle, in ways that reveal humans’ capacity for belief, and hope.”
The Mystery prize has been awarded to Keziah Weir for The Mythmakers, published by McClelland & Stewart
About the book: Three writers, two marriages, one affair—infinite sides to the story. A beguiling nesting doll of a novel about husbands and wives, the battles between creative ambition and love, and the timeless question of who owns a story.
Author Ashley Audrain, this year’s Mystery judge, said of the book: “Ambitious and inventive, The Mythmakers is a page-turner about the boundaries of creative work, memory, and identity. I loved Weir’s assured writing, complex characters, and unexpected twists in this debut.”
The Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize is now in its 10th year. The winners were selected from a shortlist of talented debut Canadian writers chosen by Kobo’s team of booksellers, with book completion rates, customer ratings and reviews taken into consideration.
For Non-Fiction and Literary Fiction: only Entrants who published a book during the 2023 calendar year are eligible.
For Mystery: only Entrants who published a book during the 2021, 2022 or 2023 calendar years (spanning the time since the prize was last awarded in this genre) are eligible. Each year the prize considers one of three genre fiction categories: Mystery, Romance, and Speculative Fiction.
All submitted books must be available at www.kobo.com.
Nonfiction
Literary Fiction
Mystery
The Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize official page: kobo.com/emergingwriterprize
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