Lawrence Hill, Elizabeth Hay and Mélanie Watt were among the authors honoured last weekend by Canadian booksellers gathered in Toronto for their annual conference.

Hill won author of the year at the Canadian Booksellers Association's Libris Awards for his acclaimed epic The Book of Negroes at Sunday evening's gala.

Last month, the Burlington, Ont.-based author captured the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the novel, which also won the Writers' Trust of Canada fiction prize.

Elizabeth Hay's Late Nights on Air, which revolves around characters at a small, northern Canadian radio station, was named the CBA's best fiction book of the year. The Ottawa writer's book, which won the prestigious Giller Prize in November, has also been optioned for television.

Naomi Klein, who was not present at the ceremony, won the non-fiction book of the year award for The Shock Doctrine. In her latest book, the Canadian journalist and author explores the notion of "disaster capitalism" and the introduction of free market reforms in the aftermath of major traumatic events like war or natural disasters.

Montreal writer-illustrator Mélanie Watt was a double-winner, taking trophies for both children's author of the year and children's illustrator of the year for Scaredy Squirrel, which also won the 2007 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz children's picture book award.

Other CBA winners Sunday night included:

  • Book Design - CS Richardson, The Frozen Thames
  • Editor - Anne Collins, Random House Canada
  • Publisher - Penguin Canada
  • Small press publisher - Cormorant Books
  • Bookseller - Munro's Books (Victoria, B.C.)
  • Specialty bookseller - Mabel's Fables (Toronto)
  • Campus bookseller - The Bookstore at Western (London, ON)
  • Distributor - North 49
  • Sales rep - Dot Middlemass, Kate Walker & Company (B.C.)
  • Marketing achievement - House of Anansi Press

The CBA's annual Libris Awards recognize outstanding achievement throughout the Canadian publishing industry — from author to bookseller — and are nominated and voted on by members of the bookselling community.

There is no monetary prize, but each recipient is presented with a trophy denoting his or her win.