Marthe Jocelyn wins Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature

Canadian writers, publishers, and readers were among the guests at this year’s 9th annual Writers’ Trust Awards event, held Nov. 24 at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto, celebrating the wide-ranging success of Canada’s literary talents over the past year. The show was hosted by broadcaster, writer, and musician Jian Ghomeshi and included the presentation of six awards and $127,000, making it one of the richest awards nights for literature in the country.

Marthe Jocelyn took home the $20,000 prize for the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature. This award is given to the author of a body of work in children's literature that, in the opinion of the judges, demonstrates the highest literary standards.

In her more than twenty books for preschoolers, elementary school children and young adults, Jocelyn demonstrates a rich versatility with genre, medium and style. She has published compelling narratives in a wide range of genres, including young adult realism, historical fiction, biography/memoir, fantasy and picture books. The emotional range of tone in her work is as broad and deep as her exploration of genre: she writes with equal conviction in the voice of satire, comedy and tragedy. Inventiveness, humour, and a sharp understanding of human nature underlie her work for all ages.

She is a visual artist as well as a verbal one, as her numerous picture books show. Her collage art glories in the beauty and grace of the child’s domain, rich in artefacts, objects of play and contemplation. Her subtle use of endpapers and framing, textured materials, fabrics and found objects — her use of real “kid things” — creates a visual world of identity, interest and choice, showing the creative possibilities and thoughtfulness in the child’s world.

- 2009 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature Jury
Deirdre Baker, Julie Johnston and Judith Saltman

Marthe Jocelyn is the author of several award-winning novels and has also written and illustrated picture books. Her novels for include How It Happened in Peach Hill, Mable Riley, Would You, and Folly. She has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, and the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children. Her book, Mable Riley, won the first TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.

The Writers’ Trust Awards are made possible through generous support from corporate, foundation, and individual sponsors