Writers Miriam Toews, Louise Bernice Halfe and Élise Gravel among new Order of Canada appointees

CBC

2 days ago

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Manitoba-born author Miriam Toews, Cree poet Louise Bernice Halfe and Montreal writer and illustrator Élise Gravel are among the 83 new appointees to the Order of Canada announced on June 30, 2025.
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon's office announced two new companions — the highest level of the Order of Canada — 19 officers and 62 members, the introductory honour level in the order. One appointment is a promotion within the Order of Canada and another is an honorary appointment.
Toews has been made an officer for "her unique ability to portray very human stories of overcoming adversity and finding meaning," according to the official announcement.
Born in Steinbach, Man., the Toronto-based Toews is the author of nine books including Fight Night, Women Talking, All My Puny Sorrows, A Complicated Kindness and The Flying Troutman.
She has won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction, Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Writers' Trust Engel Findley Award. A Complicated Kindness won Canada Reads in 2006, when it was defended by John K. Samson.
Toews' latest book, A Truce That Is Not Peace, is a memoir coming out in August.
Halfe, also known by her Cree name Sky Dancer, has been made a member. She is a poet from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta.
Her poetry collections include awâsis – kinky and disheveled, Bear Bones & Feathers, Blue Marrow, The Crooked Good and Burning in this Midnight Dream. She served as Canada's ninth Parliamentarian Poet Laureate and was a Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan.
Through her work in both Cree and English, Halfe advocates for language learning and preservation and articulates the history and experiences of Indigenous Peoples.
LISTEN | Louise B. Halfe Sky Dancer on awâsis — kinky and dishevelled:
Gravel was made a member of the Order of Canada. She has written and illustrated over 50 books for children that have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Her books include Club Microbe, Not Me, The Bat, The Worst Book Ever, The Mushroom Fan Club, I Want a Monster! and What Is a Refugee. Gravel won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People in 2022 for her body of work. She lives in Montreal.
Other literary appointees include Michel Rabagliati, Elizabeth Epperly and Marianne Dubuc.
New member Rabagliati is a Montreal based cartoonist best known for his recurring character Paul. He has written several semi-autobiographical comics including Paul Up North, Paul Goes Fishing and Paul Joins the Scouts. Paul at Home was on the shortlist for the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for translation.
25 years as an illustrator, Quebecer and his comic honoured with Canada Post stamp
Epperly, based in Nova Scotia, was made a member for her scholarship and writing about the works of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. She founded the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island 24 years ago.
Dubuc, a children's book author and illustrator from Montreal, was honoured as a member for her "stories, rooted in nature and imbued with kindness," as written in the announcement. Her books include The Bus Ride, Lucy and Company and Mr. Postmouse's Rounds. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.
Writer Kim Thúy Ly Thanh, who was appointed a member of the Order in 2023, will take part in an investiture ceremony, receiving her insignia, on July 1, 2025 in Ottawa. The Quebec-based novelist and short story writer is known for her books Vi, Man and Ru, which won Canada Reads in 2015.