Writers' Trust of Canada, 460 Richmond Street West, Suite 600, Toronto, ON (2026)

10/07/2026

Announcing finalists for the inaugural Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing — congratulations to katherena vermette, George Galt, and Rachel Rose.

◢ katherena vermette for Carry Your Heart: Indigenous Helping Wisdom and the Science of Psychological Flexibility by Louis Busch (Simon & Schuster Canada)

“In a kind of method editing, vermette took to heart the teachings of the Elders who Busch interviewed — embodying, for example, Simon Bird’s otōtīmowin — to gently invite Busch to share his gifts in his own voice.”—jury citation

◢ George Galt for My Year in Fairyland: Grief, MAID and a Lifetime of Books by Sarah Ellis (Stonehewer Books)

“Through humour, gentle prodding, deep sympathy, and respect, Galt drew out Ellis’ remembrances of the twelve months before her wife Sherry’s medically assisted death. The deceptively slim book contains profound reflections about what it means to live and love well.”—jury citation

◢ Rachel Rose for Humanitarienne: A Doctor’s Stories from the Conflict Zone by Kirsten Johnson (Douglas & McIntyre)

“There is no doubt, Humanitarienne owes much of its compulsive readability, intellectual heft, and moral power to the judicious guidance and steady hand of its exceptional editor.”—jury citation

The $25,000 Nancy Flight Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing is awarded annually to an editor whose work has made an outstanding contribution to a full-length book of literary nonfiction. A jury composed of Rachel Giese, Craig Pyette, and Rachel Taylor selected this year’s finalists from submissions representing 12 Canadian publishing imprints.

This prize is supported by Nancy Flight, one of Canada’s most respected and influential nonfiction editors, as part of a multiyear commitment to supporting Canadian literature through Writers’ Trust.

Winner announced November 10 at the !

Find prize details and more at writerstrust.com/NancyFlight

10/06/2026

Rewarding outstanding editorial expertise in Canadian nonfiction books 🏅

The inaugural 2026 Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing shortlist will be announced tomorrow!

Award jurors Rachel Giese, Craig Pyette, and Rachel Taylor selected the 2026 finalists from submissions representing 12 publishing imprints.

◢ Rachel Giese is an award-winning journalist and author. Her bestselling book Boys: What It Means to Become a Man won the Prize for Political Writing and was named one of The Globe and Mail’s 100 Favourite Books of the year. Formerly the editorial director of Xtra Magazine, Giese is currently the culture and life editor at The Globe and Mail. She lives in Toronto.

◢ Craig Pyette spent more than twenty years as an editor at Random House Canada, where books he edited received over seventy award wins and nominations and were adapted for stage and screen. He now works as a freelance editor, writer, and ghostwriter, and as an agent with New York City-based Lucinda Literary.

◢ Rachel Taylor is an editor, copy editor, and proofreader, working on award-winning fiction, nonfiction, and periodicals. Her own essays include “Editing Inuit Writing and Working with Inuit Storytellers,” published in Elements of Indigenous Style, and “Gathering Knowledges to Inform Best Practices in Indigenous Publishing,” published in ARIEL. Taylor’s cultural perspective as a mixed woman raised by her Iñupiaq mother informs her literary work. She lives as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the Stz'uminus First Nation (Vancouver Island).

The 2026 award winner will be revealed at the on November 10 in Toronto.

For prize details and more visit writerstrust.com/NancyFlight

10/02/2026

The final installment of our 50th anniversary national author series, Conversations in Trust, is right around the corner. 🍁 Writers’ Trust welcomes Canadian authors francesca ekwuyasi, Michael Crummey, and Naben Ruthnum to the Halifax edition of Conversations in Trust, moderated by CBC News Mary Lynk.

Join these prominent Canadian writers for a conversation on how there is more that connects us than divides us in these tumultuous times, at the Halifax Central Library on Thursday, October 22, 6:00 pm.

FREE Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/conversations-in-trust-halifax-canadian-authors-make-sense-of-our-world-tickets-1983382763236

Presented in partnership with PwC, AfterWords Literary Festival, Halifax Public Libraries, Bookmark II, and The Globe and Mail.

09/29/2026

Thoughtful debate happens when all sides are well-read 📚

Congratulations to the 2026 for Public Policy finalists!

◢ Dennis Molinaro for Under Assault: Interference and Espionage in China’s Secret War Against Canada (Random House Canada)
“Original, timely, and meticulously researched, this is a work of exceptional public importance.” — jury citation

◢ Moira Welsh for The Astonishing Lives of Older Women: How to Create Pleasure Over Peril in Peak Longevity (ECW Press)
“Grounded in rigorous research and real stories, the book combines data with deep empathy and raises a pressing question about what it truly means to age, especially for women.” — jury citation

◢ Rick Westhead for We Breed Lions: Confronting Canada’s Troubled Hockey Culture (Random House Canada)
“We Breed Lions exposed how cultures of power and silence take root in team environments and how we must act to protect the kids who play the national sport.” — jury citation

◢ Jesse Winter for Wild Fire: Dispatches from a Country Ablaze (HarperCollins Canada)
“Winter examines forest fires with depth and detail while highlighting how public policy can help us tackle them proactively and sustainably.” — jury citation

◢ Tim Wu for The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity (Alfred A. Knopf)
“Necessary reading not just for all levels of government but for anyone who has ever ordered a package via Amazon, googled a search term, shopped online, streamed a movie, or consumed social media.” — jury citation

The $70,000 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy is awarded annually for a nonfiction book that advances policy debates on topics most relevant to Canadians. A jury composed of historian and professor Raymond B. Blake, author and physician Samantha Nutt, and digital strategist Scott Young selected this year’s finalists from 36 titles representing 24 publishing imprints.

This prize is funded by the Balsillie Family Foundation as part of a $3 million commitment to supporting Canadian literature through Writers’ Trust.

Find prize details and more at writerstrust.com/BalsilliePrize

09/28/2026

Thoughtful debate happens when all sides are well-read 📚

The 2026 shortlist will be announced tomorrow!

Jurors Raymond B. Blake, Samantha Nutt, and Scott Young selected this year’s top public policy books from 36 titles representing 24 publishing imprints.

◢ Raymond B. Blake is a historian, professor at the University of Regina, and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has written or edited more than twenty books on Canadian history and politics, including Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity, winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Blake’s work has also received the Pierre Savard Award, the Peter Cashin Prize, the Canadian Studies Network’s Best Book Prize, and the Clio Prize. He serves as co-president of the Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d’études canadiennes. Raised on the south coast of Newfoundland, Blake now lives in Regina.

◢ Samantha Nutt is an author, humanitarian, physician, and founder and president of War Child Canada and War Child USA. She has worked with children and families on the front lines of major crises, including those in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Sudan. Nutt is the author of Damned Nations and a leading authority on public health, war, international aid, and foreign policy. She also practises at Women's College Hospital, teaches at the University of Toronto, and serves as Council Lead for the McMaster Canada Project. Nutt lives in Toronto.

◢ Scott Young is director of strategic initiatives and director of geotechnology at Eurasia Group, where he examines the intersection of critical and emerging technologies with geopolitics. He is a former CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow, a member of the Banff Forum, and part of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt’s Responsible Leaders Network. Young holds degrees from Simon Fraser University, the University of Warwick, and the University of Oxford. Originally from Langley, British Columbia, he now lives in Malmö, Sweden.

The 2026 award winner will be revealed on November 24 at a live event in Toronto.

Find prize details and more at writerstrust.com/BalsilliePrize

09/23/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize finalists!

◢ Zak Jones for Fancy Gap (Hamish Hamilton Canada)
“The constant emotion, energy, and movement give the novel a completeness that makes its candor even more praiseworthy.” —jury citation

◢ Téa Mutonji for My Person (Random House Canada)
“Witty, moving, and fiercely authentic, My Person is a unique portrait of millennial life, of the struggle of the urban creative, and of the complex realities of in*******al relationships.” —jury citation

◢ Lisa Robertson for Riverwork (Coach House Books)
“A stunning foray into a river of language plain yet so fertile it feels like slipping into the eternal pool of all dreams’ origin while wholly connected to waking life.” —jury citation

◢ Blair Palmer Yoxall for Treat Them as Buffalo (HarperAvenue)
“A voice and story that is undertold in Canadian literature, the fierce, resilient Métis women run the show in the face of colonial violence and community destruction.” —jury citation

◢ Ashraf Zaghal for Seven Heavens Away (House of Anansi Press)
“The writing exhibits a miracle of tenderness in a harsh and perilous surround, treasuring the protagonist’s young internal voice within its larger, older cultural context of tension, loyalty, and violence.” —jury citation

The $70,000 Atwood Gibson Prize is awarded annually for the best novel or short story collection of the year. A jury composed of David Chariandy, Conor Kerr, and Kathleen Winter selected this year’s award finalists from 118 titles representing 62 publishing imprints.

Winner announced November 10 at the !

The prize is supported by the Balsillie Family Foundation.

Find prize details and more at writerstrust.com/AtwoodGibson

09/22/2026

Awarding the best Canadian novels & short stories 🏅

The 2026 Prize shortlist will be announced tomorrow!

Meet this year’s jury — David Chariandy, Conor Kerr, and Kathleen Winter selected this year’s award finalists from 118 titles representing 62 publishing imprints.

◢ David Chariandy is the author of the novels Soucouyant and Brother, and the epistolary memoir I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter. His work has received the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Toronto Book Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction. Chariandy’s books have been translated into a dozen languages. He serves on the editorial board of the literary journal Brick and teaches English literature and creative writing at the University of Toronto.

◢ Conor Kerr is a Métis/Ukrainian writer and a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, descended from the Lac Ste. Anne Métis and the Papaschase Cree Nation. He is the author of the poetry collections An Explosion of Feathers and Old Gods, and the novels Avenue of Champions and Prairie Edge. Kerr won a ReLit Award and has been shortlisted for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and the Giller Prize. He teaches creative writing at the University of Alberta and lives in Edmonton.

◢ Kathleen Winter is the author of nine books, including her memoir Boundless and the novels Annabel, and Undersong, which draws inspiration from Dorothy Wordsworth’s unpublished diaries. She has been shortlisted for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the Giller Prize, and two Governor General’s Literary Awards. Winter was born in the United Kingdom, has lived in Newfoundland and Montreal, and now lives in Quebec’s Eastern Townships where she is working on a book of poetry.

The 2026 award winner will be revealed at the on November 10 in Toronto.

Find prize details and more at writerstrust.com/AtwoodGibson

09/21/2026

Full video now available on YouTube 📺 Watch Hanif Abdurraqib’s lecture and conversation with author Tessa McWatt at this year’s Hilary Weston International Award event, hosted by CBC’s Ali Hassan.

Listen as the 2026 Hilary Weston International Award winner discusses the role of nonfiction in our society and his relationship to it as someone from an unconventional background.

Abdurraqib’s “work sings and stings and brings truths, both personal and communal, as he voices culture and its complexities with bold, compassionate lyricism and a real sense of love,”” —2026 Hilary Weston International Award jury

Filmed at the Royal Ontario Museum on September 14, 2026

youtube.com/watch?v=1_vVTIGOiww

Presented by Writers’ Trust
Supported by The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation
Sponsors: PwC Canada, CBC Ideas, The Globe and Mail, Another Story Bookshop

Thank you for making this year's event possible.

09/16/2026

Meet the extraordinary finalists for the 2026 Prize for + Emerging Writers:

◢ Gwen Aube (Montreal) for Missed Connections with Tall Girls (LittlePuss Press)

“Writing from within a lineage of trans women’s literature, Aube creates an unruly communal archive of girls, lovers, strangers, mentors, and ghosts, insisting on trans life as already abundant with culture, history, humour, and sacredness.” —jury citation

◢ Tiana Reid (Toronto) for Nightnursing (icehouse poetry)

“More than charting recovery, Reid troubles the very idea of it, resisting the demand that survival resolve into wellness, coherence, or cure.” —jury citation

◢ Misha Solomon (Montreal) for My Great-Grandfather Danced Ballet (Brick Books)

“Moving between contemporary life and a speculative family past, Solomon writes into the gaps of lineage, testing the space between wish-fulfillment, family lore, and what history can never quite confirm.” —jury citation

The $12,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize honours outstanding debut books by LGBTQ2S+ writers of any age and in any genre. A jury of authors composed of francesca ekwuyasi, K**a La Mackerel, and Michael V. Smith selected this year’s finalists from titles representing 14 imprints.

Stay tuned for the winner announcement at the on November 10!

The prize is supported by the Dayne Ogilvie Endowment Fund, Anuja Varghese, and the Writers’ Trust Prize Fund.

Learn more at writerstrust.com/DayneOgilvie

09/15/2026

Celebrating the best debut books of the year by Canadian + writers! 📚

The 2026 Prize shortlist will be announced Wednesday — stay tuned!

Meet this year’s jury:

◢ francesca ekwuyasi is a storyteller and multidisciplinary artist from Lagos, Nigeria. She won the 2022 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers for her debut novel Butter Honey Pig Bread. The book was also selected for CBC Books's Canada Reads, longlisted for the Giller Prize, and shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and a Governor General’s Literary Award. ekwuyasi’s short fiction, essays, and criticism have appeared in Winter Tangerine Review, Brittle Paper, and Transition Magazine. ekwuyasi divides her time between Halifax and Montreal.

◢ K**a La Mackerel is a multilingual writer, visual artist, performer, educator, literary translator, and ritualist. Her interdisciplinary practice bridges insularity, oceanic memory, trans poetics, créolité, and decolonial ecologies, reclaiming dominant aesthetic and political spaces for q***r and decolonial imagination. La Mackerel has translated numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, and was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers. She is the author of Indrazaal et la quête de l’océan and ZOM-FAM, and her creative practice is rooted in love, justice, and collective empowerment across artistic forms. La Mackerel lives in Montreal.

◢ Michael V. Smith is a writer, performer, and filmmaker whose creative work explores intersections of class, gender, and sexuality. He has received numerous awards, including the inaugural Dayne Ogilvie Prize in 2007. Smith’s first feature film, The Floating Man, won Director’s Choice at Cinema Diverse, the Palm Springs q***r film festival. His latest poetry memoir, Soundtrack, uses music as a mnemonic device to revisit his personal experiences of growing up q***r in the shadow of the AIDS crisis. Smith lives in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Find prize details and more at writerstrust.com/DayneOgilvie

Writers' Trust of Canada

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