Tim Wynne-Jones, Tom Dawe among writers appointed to Order of Canada

Last week, Governor General David Johnston announced that he will appoint prolific children’s writer Tim Wynne-Jones an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Wynne-Jones has written more than 25 books, twice received the Governor General’s Literary Award for children’s literature, and earned the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award three times. According to a press release from the Governor General’s office, the latest honour was bestowed for “his contributions to Canadian literature.”

Among the other 65 new appointments were Vinyl Cafe host Stuart McLean, author of 10 books, who was named an Officer for “his contributions to Canadian culture as a storyteller and broadcaster.” Food writer Anita Stewart, whose latest book, Anita Stewart’s Canada, was published in 2008 by HarperCollins Canada, was made a Member of the Order for “her contributions as a journalist, author, and culinary activist.” Tom Dawe, poet and founding member of St. John’s publisher Breakwater Books, was also named a Member thanks to “his contributions to Newfoundland literature as a poet, teacher and co-founder of Breakwater Books and TickleAce magazine.”

(Dawe followed up the honour by winning the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2011 Heritage and History Book Award for his poetry collection Where Genesis Begins in St. John’s on Tuesday night.)