Cathy Marie Buchanan is the winner of this year’s Forest of Reading Evergreen Award for her book The Painted Girls (HarperCollins Canada), which was also slated for TV adaptation last fall.
Initiated by the Ontario Library Association, the award is part of a reading program adopted by more than 60 Ontario libraries through book clubs and other forums. Titles are nominated by a committee of library professionals each year, and the winner is determined by a reader voting process.
The Evergreen Award aims to recognize the best titles in Canadian adult fiction and non-fiction (the Forest of Reading’s other branches, such as Red Maple and Silver Birch, focus on books for young people.) More than 250,000 Canadians participate annually in the program, which “helps celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors, and illustrators and encourages a love of reading in people of all ages.”
Buchanan will be presented with the award at OLA’s annual Super Conference on Jan. 29.