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Alcuin Society Book Design Award Winners for 2021

Book cover featuring a photograph of Franz Kafka with the eyes cut out in circles.
Her Process: A Translation of Kafta’s ‘The Trial” by Mark Goldstein was awarded 1st place for prose fiction.

Since 1984 the Alcuin Society has recognized excellence in book design with a national awards program. The Library is happy to showcase the 39th award winners in eight trade book categories, for the combined 2020 and 2021 publishing period. The books will be on display in the exhibition window outside of the Archives and Special Collections (ASC), 4th Floor of the Library building, from Nov. 1-Dec. 16, 2022. An exhibition catalogue will be available for consultation inside the ASC during regular hours of operation.

Cookbook cover, featuring a photo of the author along with eggs and a plate of chicken.
The Double Happiness Cookbook by Trevor Lui was awarded 1st place in the reference category,

All of the books are on loan from the Alcuin Society and the Toronto Metropolitan University Library is pleased to be one of the Toronto stops for this national touring exhibition. Later, the books will be touring Germany. For a full list of venues, see the Alcuin Society website.

Book cover featuring a photograph from above of a people riding bikes, skateboards and scooters on a skate park structure
Urban Magnets – How Activity Subcultures Can Be A Catalyst For Rejuvenating Cities by Bruce Haden, Mark Holland, & Bruce Irvine was awarded 1st place in the Prose, Illustrated category.

One book, the third prize winner in the category “Pictorials” has a TMU connection since one of the co-authors of Out North: An Archive of Queer Activism and Kinship in Canada is Craig Jennex, assistant professor in the English Department. The book was designed by Jessica Sullivan.

Book cover for Out North featuring images of LGBTQ2S+ activist buttons
Out North: An Archive of Queer Activism and Kinship in Canada by Authors Craig Jennex & NIsha Eswaran was awarded 3rd place in the Pictorial Category by the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.