First Nation Communities READ 2025-2026 winners

The First Nation Communities READ program has announced the winners for the PMC Indigenous Literature Award in both the Children’s and Young Adult/Adult categories.

The winners are:

Children’s

• Boozhoo!/Hello! by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley and Mary Ann Corbiere, trans. (Groundwood Books)

Young Adult/Adult

• The Baby Train by Stella Shepard (Acorn Press)

The winners were selected, from a shortlist announced in September, by a jury of Indigenous librarians from across Ontario. Each recipient will be awarded a $5,000 cash prize.

Launched in 2003 by the First Nations Public Library Community in Ontario, First Nation Communities READ is supported by Ontario Library Service. The program aims to promote a community-based approach to reading, increase awareness of the importance of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit writing, illustration, and publishing, and encourage family literacy, intergenerational storytelling and intergenerational knowledge transmission.