Awards

• The Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award in Holocaust History, the Helen and Stan Vine Annual Canadian Jewish Book Awards for Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille 2007.
• The Different Drummer Independent Bookseller's Award for the best book of Non-Fiction in 2006 for Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille 2007.
• Governor General's Award for Non-fiction for Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, 1995.
• Canadian Authors' Association Prize for Non-fiction, 1996, for Shadow Maker.
• University of British Columbia President's Medal for Canadian Biography, 1996, for Shadow Maker.
• City of Toronto Book Prize, 1996, for Shadow Maker.
• Short-listed for Ontario Trillium Prize, 1996, for Shadow Maker.
• Short-listed for Governor General's Award for Non-fiction, 1991, for By Heart: Elizabeth Smart/ A Life.
• Gerald Lampert Memorial Award: best first book of poetry published in Canada in1986 (League of Canadian Poets) for The Space A Name Makes.
• Western Journalism Award: First Prize: Category: Travel, "Egypt," Border Crossings, Winter 1997, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 2-38.
• Nomination for a National Magazine Award for poetry, 1989, "Life Sentence," Border Crossings, Vol. 7, No. 4, October 1988; Nomination for a National Magazine Award for poetry, 2000, "Granada Notebook," Border Crossings, Vol. 18, No. 4, 1999.
• 1986 Silver Medal, National Magazine Award for "Muse in a Female Ghetto: A Portrait of Elizabeth Smart," This Magazine, vol. 20, No. 3, August/September 1986, pp. 22-25.
  

Honors and Fellowships

• Canada Research Chair in Literature, University of Toronto, 2001.
• Camargo Foundation Fellowship, Cassis France, Fall 2005.
• Elected to the Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada, 2004.
• Connaught Fellowship, 2002.
• Elected Associate Senior Fellow, Massey College, 1999.
• Killam Fellowship, 1996-98.
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 1992.
• McGill University Scholar, 1964-68.