Patrick deWitt wins Leacock Medal for Humour for novel ‘The Librarianist’

ORILLIA, ONTARIO – Patrick deWitt’s novel “The Librarianist” has won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.

The $25,000 award goes to the best Canadian book of literary humour published in the previous year.

DeWitt’s novel follows an introverted retired librarian who volunteers at a seniors’ centre.

This is the second Leacock medal for the internationally bestselling author who was previously honoured for “The Sisters Brothers,” his 2011 novel that also won the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

He received the 2024 Leacock Medal at an event in Orillia, Ont., this weekend.

Runners-up, who received $5,000 apiece, were Ali Bryan for “Coq,” a family dramedy set on a group trip to Paris, and Deborah Willis for “Girlfriend on Mars,” a novel about a woman competing on a reality show to land a spot on a rocket ship to the red planet.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2024.