Nino Ricci's Origin of Species and Pasha Malla's The Withdrawal Method are among the finalists for this year's Trillium Book Awards.

The finalists for the $20,000 award for fiction in English and French were announced Wednesday, along with three nominees for poetry and French children's literature.

Toronto writer Ricci won the Governor General's Literary Award and was nominated for the Commonwealth Prize for Origin of Species, a novel about a man who remembers a trip to the Galapagos while trying to negotiate his way through modern life.

Malla, of London, Ont., recently won the $10,000 Danuta Gleed Literary Award for his book of short stories, The Withdrawal Method.

Other contenders for English-language fiction:

  • Kevin Connolly, of Toronto, Revolver (House of Anansi Press).
  • Helen Humphreys, of Kingston, Ont., Coventry (HarperCollins Publishers).
  • Ibi Kaslik, of Branchton, Ont., The Angel Riots (Penguin Group Canada).
  • Charles Wilkins, of Thunder Bay, Ont., In the Land of Long Fingernails (Penguin Group Canada).

Publishers of the books win $2,500.

This year's five French finalists for the Trillium Book Award are:

  • Marguerite Andersen, of Halifax, Le figuier sur le toit (Les Éditions L'Interligne).
  • Hédi Bouraoui, of Sudbury, Ont., Cap Nord (Les Éditions du Vermillon).
  • Daniel Marchildon, of Penetanguishene, Ont., L'eau de vie (Les Éditions David).
  • Melchior Mbonimpa, of Sudbury, Ont., La terre sans mal (Prise de parole).
  • Nancy Vickers, of Ottawa, Aeterna Le jardin des immortelles (Les Éditions David).

This year's three finalists for the $10,000 Trillium Book Award for poetry in English language are:

  • Jeramy Dodds, of Orono, Ont., Crabwise to the Hounds (Coach House Books).
  • Joanne Page, of Kingston, Ont., Watermarks (Pedlar Press).
  • Adam Sol, of Toronto, Jeremiah, Ohio (House of Anansi Press).

The $10,000 children's literature prize alternates between English and French. This year's finalists are:

  • Michèle Laframboise, La Quête de Chaaas tome 1 (Éditions Médiaspaul).
  • Françoise Lepage, of Ottawa, Les chercheurs d'étoiles (Les Éditions L'Interligne).
  • Paul Prud'Homme, Les Rebuts: Hockey 2 (Les Éditions du Vermillon).

The winners of the awards for the best in Ontario writing will be announced June 16 in Toronto.