15,993 Canadian authors share $9.1 million in PLR payments

Nearly 16,000 Canadian authors will share in more than $9 million in PLR payments for the public lending of their books by Canadian libraries during the past year. The Public Lending Right Commission operates under the administrative aegis of the Canada Council for the Arts and issues payments to writers, translators and illustrators every February.

PLR payments are determined by verifying the holdings of a representative group of Canadian public libraries. The more libraries in which an author’s eligible titles are found, the larger the PLR payment (to a maximum of $2,681). This year, authors in 1,688 communities in Canada and 337 communities abroad will receive an average payment of $570.

The distribution of payments by province is as follows:
Quebec $3,543,288.33
Ontario $2,806,560.40
British Columbia $1,183,057.27
Alberta $395,403.44
Canadians Living Abroad $303,921.16
Nova Scotia $236,784.46
Manitoba $173,445.97
Saskatchewan $167,768.88
New Brunswick $159,959.20
Newfoundland and Labrador $ 98,504.41
Prince Edward Island $32,119.63
Yukon Territory $7,941.13
Northwest Territories $4,471.53
Nunavut Territory $1,869.43
Total $9,115,095.24