Andrew J. Borkowski wins Toronto Book Award for Copernicus Avenue

Congratulations, Andrew! Here’s the story from Mark Medley of the National Post:

Andrew J. Borkowski’s linked collection of short stories, Copernicus Avenue, is the winner of the 2012 Toronto Book Award.

Borkowski’s debut book is set in-and-around the titular avenue, a thinly-veiled homage to Roncesvalles Ave., the west-end Toronto Polish enclave where the author was born and raised.

The other finalists were National Post columnist Dave Bidini for Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972; Farzana Doctor for her novel Six Metres of Pavement; Michele Landsberg for her collection of columns Writing the Revolution; and Suzanne Robertson for her poetry collection Paramita, Little Black.

Each of the five finalists receives $1,000, while Borkowski takes home an additional $10,000. (That should buy Andrew a lot of coffees!)

Andrew will be my guest speaker at the Writing with Style workshop Februrary 2 in Brampton. Details here.

See my full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.