Shani Mootoo (Darren Rampersaud); Guy Delisle

Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival/Festival littéraire international Metropolis bleu presented multiple awards on April 25. The annual festival, which takes place in Montreal, ran from April 23 to 26.

The festival awards authors for their body of work. The individual award presentations comprised of readings or interviews, book signings, and a film screening of Reading Lolita in Tehran. All the award winners had been previously announced.

Author, artist, and filmmaker Shani Mootoo received the Violet Prize/Le Prix littéraire Violet Metropolis bleu. The $5,000 LGBTQ prize is awarded to a Canadian writer and alternates between English and French writers.

The Blue Metropolis Future and Society Award was presented to graphic novelist Guy Delisle.

Iranian-American writer Azar Nafisi was awarded the Blue Metropolis Words to Change Prize. The $5,000 prize is awarded for a body of literary work that contributes to a better understanding of cultures.

The Premio Metropolis Azul prize, which recognizes a literary body of work by an author from any country (written in Spanish, English, or French) that explores some aspect of Spanish language, culture, or history, was presented to Cuban author Leonardo Padura.

U.K. writer and journalist Wyl Menmuir received the Blue Metropolis Planet Literature Prize. The $5,000 award is presented to an author who shows the beauty of the living world and promotes greater ecological awareness.

Sami and Swedish author Ann-Helén Laestadius, who could not attend the festival, was awarded the Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize – International Edition. It’s awarded to a native non Canadian author for work that contributes to a better understanding of Indigenous cultures. It comes with a $5,000 prize.

The Blue Metropolis/Montreal Conseil des Arts de Montreal New Contribution Award, which is a $5,000 award that recognizes an emerging Montreal author of immigrant background (first and second generation), was presented to author and filmmaker Laura Bari.