5 Canadian emerging writers named 2025 Writers' Trust rising stars
Allison Graves, Zilla Jones, Dilan Qadir, Liz Stewart and Isabella Wang have been named the 2025 Writers' Trust of Canada's Rising Stars.
Launched in 2019, the Writers' Trust Rising Stars program is an initiative supporting Canadian writers early in their careers. Each year, five talented emerging writers are chosen and mentored by prominent Canadian authors.
The recipients also receive $5,000 and attend a two-week self-directed writing residency at Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts on the Toronto Islands.
Graves is a Newfoundland-based writer and musician. Soft Serve, her debut fiction collection, was shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award. Her work has appeared in The Antigonish Review, Riddle Fence Magazine and Room Magazine.
Her fiction has been longlisted for prizes in Prism, The Fiddlehead and The Newfoundland Quarterly. She is completing her PhD in Irish Literature and teaches at Memorial University.
Graves will be mentored by Michael Crummey. Crummey is the Newfoundland-based author of The Adversary, which is nominated for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award, The Innocents, Sweetland, Galore and Arguments with Gravity and Passengers. Three of Crummey's novels have been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction — Sweetland, Galore and The Innocents.
"Allison Graves' writing is generous even when it bites, and it's hilarious as often as it is sobering, which makes her a joy to read," said Crummey in a press statement.
Jones is an author based in Winnipeg. She's won many literary awards including the Journey Prize, the Malahat Review Open Season Award, the Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction and the FreeFall short fiction award. Her debut novel, The World So Wide, was released in March 2025.
Jones made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize long list for Our Father and has longlisted twice for her story How to Make a Friend, in 2022 and 2023; in 2024, Jones was included on the CBC Short Story Prize shortlist. The same year, Jones made the long list for the CBC Nonfiction Prize.
She was also named a writer to watch by CBC Books in 2024.
Zilla Jones' debut novel explores a mixed-race woman's search for identity and belonging
The CBC Poetry Prize is open now until June 1. The winner receives $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. You can learn more here.
Jones will be mentored by Charlotte Gill, a B.C.-based writer of Indian and English descent. She is the author of memoirs Almost Brown and Eating Dirt, which won the B.C. National Award for Canadian Nonfiction.
Her short story collection, Ladykiller, was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award. She currently teaches writing at the University of King's College. She lives in British Columbia.
"Zilla Jones' scenes are ingeniously imagined and beautifully written with rewards that endure long after the last page has turned," said Gill a press statement.
Qadir is a Kurdish-Canadian writer based in Vancouver. His work, which spans poetry, fiction and nonfiction, has been published in Wax Poetry and Art, Quae Nocent Docent Anthology and The Fiddlehead.
He was longlisted for the Vera Manuel Award for Poetry and received the PEN Canada-Humber College Writers-in-Exile Scholarship.
Quadir will be mentored by Rabindranath Mahara, the author of several novels and short story collections. His latest is the short story collection A Quiet Disappearance. His novel The Amazing Absorbing Boy won both the Toronto Book Award and the Trillium Book Award. He has previously been nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, The Chapters First Novel Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
In January 2013, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. His work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star.
"Dilan Qadir's keen observational eye, his ability to blend humour and trauma, his understanding of the historical forces that shape our world, and the authenticity of his writing all evoke admiration," said Qadir in a press statement.
Stewart is a writer from Manitoba who currently lives in B.C. She won the This Side of West 2021 Prose and Poetry Contest and has been published in Best Canadian Stories 2025, Plenitude Magazine, carte blanche and Camas Magazine.
Stewart will be mentored by Casey Plett, the author of A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, A Safe Girl to Love. She is a winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has also been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Plett splits her time between New York City and Windsor, Ont.
"Liz Stewart's work is honest and beautiful — real, singular, and urgent," said Plett in a press statement. "Stewart is making something intimate that anyone can believe and see."
Wang is the writer of chapbook On Forgetting a Language and Pebble Swing, which was a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She was shortlisted for Arc's Poem of the year Content, The Malahat Review's Far Horizons Awards for Poetry and Long Poem Contest, Minola Review's Inaugural Poetry Contest and twice for the New Quarterly's Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest.
She lives in B.C. and directs Revise-Revision Street, a nonprofit editing and mentorship program.
Wang will be mentored by Joseph Dandurand, a poet from the Kwantlen First Nation. His collections include The East Side of It All, which was a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize, The Rumour, SH:LAM (The Doctor) and I Will Be Corrupted. He is the director of the Kwantlen Cultural Centre and the artistic director of the Vancouver Poetry House. In 2019, he won the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize.
"Isabella Wang demonstrates immense promise as she constructs more of herself," said Dandurand in a press statement. "There will be great poetry created by such creativity and resourcefulness."
The Writers' Trust of Canada is an organization that supports Canadian writers through literary awards, fellowships, financial grants, mentorships and more. It gives out 11 prizes in recognition of the year's best in fiction, nonfiction and short story, as well as mid-career and lifetime achievement awards.
The Writers' Trust Rising Stars program is supported by presenting sponsor BMO Financial Group, Clair Duff in memory of Catherine Shepard, Deb MacLeod and Ward Sellers, as well as John Terry and Lisa Rochon and the T.R. Meighen Family Foundation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Following Regatta commentary backlash, TV host won't appear for now says Rogers
Rogers TV is apologizing after comments by volunteer host Don-E Coady on Regatta Day broadcast 18 hours ago After one of the races was finished, Rogers TV's Don-E Coady, who also hosts Out of The Fog, said he'd, 'hire a tiny little coxswain and I would probably lock them in the basement and not feed them … before getting in the boat. Is that wrong?' The CBC's Abby Cole reports on how rowers, the Royal St. John's Regatta committee, and Rogers TV are reacting to his comments. After the host of Rogers TV's Out of The Fog received backlash for commentary made during the St. John's Royal Regatta, a Rogers spokesperson told CBC that he will not being appearing on the show for the time being. Host Don-E Coady was providing commentary during a rowing race livestream, when he said "I gotta say, that if I decided to row, I'd be hiring a tiny little coxswain and I would probably lock them in the basement and not feed them for three weeks before getting back in the boat." Robin Vokey, whose friend was on the rowing team in view during the comment, says she was appalled and outraged. "This is not acceptable. This is hurtful and this is demeaning. Not only to the coxswain and that team, but to the rowing community as a whole," said Vokey. With permission of her friend, Vokey decided to share the clip on social media. Her post has since garnered over 600 shares on Facebook. She says Coady's comments are damaging not only to plus size rowers, but to everyone. "You need to be eating and building up your strength because there's so much more to rowing," she said. President of the Royal St. John's Regatta Committee Ashley Peach made a public statement calling the commentary inappropriate but did not mention Coady by name. Peach says the committee was made aware of the comments after receiving many concerned messages from the rowing community. "The committee agrees the remarks referencing body image in a joking and derogatory manner were both inappropriate and hurtful," wrote Peach, adding that the committee seeks to foster inclusivity and respect. Rogers TV, Coady apologize Late in the day on August 1, CBC received a statement from Rogers TV St. John's stating that that the comments do not reflect their values or commitment to inclusivity. "As long-time partners and supporters of this event, we sincerely apologize to our viewers, the participants, the Royal St. John's Regatta Committee and the entire community," said the statement. After confirming that Coady will not be appearing on Out of the Fog for the time being, a Rogers TV spokesperson reiterated that Coady was a volunteer – not an employee of Rogers. In a now private post on Facebook, Coady apologized for his comments. He wrote that he did not see the visual paired with his commentary, "I can totally see how someone could be offended, because the visual that was paired with that moment… could not have been worse timing," wrote Coady. Coady said that he is a champion of inclusivity in his daily life. "I am absolutely devastated and wholeheartedly apologize to anyone in my communities who has been hurt or disappointed."
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Riveting wartime read next for book club
The Free Press Book Club and McNally Robinson Booksellers are pleased to welcome Vancouver-born, New York-based author Jack Wang to the next virtual meeting on Tuesday, August 26 at 7 p.m. to read from and discuss his historical-fiction novel The Riveter. Published by House of Anansi Press in February 2025, The Riveter explores the life of Josiah Chang, a Chinese-Canadian living in Vancouver in 1942. Because Chinese people were not allowed to join the army at that time (or become Canadian citizens, for that matter), Josiah is unable to enlist to serve in the Second World War, and instead becomes a riveter working on parts for cargo ships. Shortly after, he meets Poppy Miller and the two begin a whirlwind romance that is just as swiftly halted when Poppy's father expresses his disapproval. Holman Wang photo Jack Wang In order to prove his worth, Josiah figures out a way to get himself enlisted, and volunteers for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, who jumped into Normandy on D-Day; he is one of few Chinese Canadians in the army at this time. Fighting battles on the field, as well as his own complex emotional battles — navigating a relationship with Poppy half a world away, dissecting feelings about his late father and examining his own place in Canada as a non-citizen putting his life on the line — Josiah presses on to find his way back home, wherever that means to him. In her Free Press review of The Riveter, Zilla Jones said the novel 'disrupts expectations of war novels, introducing us to a unique and unforgettable main character from a community whose contributions to Canada's war effort have too often been minimized or ignored' and called Wang's writing 'clear and confident; the story is compelling. 'It's also extremely relevant — a Canadian story by a Canadian author about a time when Canadians, if only temporarily, put aside their differences to fight a greater enemy. The Riveter is a riveting must-read for our times.' Wang will join Free Press literary editor Ben Sigurdson, McNally Robinson Booksellers co-owner Chris Hall and Free Press audience engagement manager Erin Lebar. He'll read from The Riveter, discuss the book and field questions from viewers and readers. Weekday Evenings Today's must-read stories and a roundup of the day's headlines, delivered every evening. Copies of The Riveter are available to purchase at McNally Robinson Booksellers; there's no cost to join the book club or virtual discussion. Video of the meeting will be available for replay on the Free Press YouTube channel following the event. To join the Free Press Book Club and for more information on current and future book picks, visit Book Club.
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
From WhatsApp group to official organization, Jamaican residents in N.L. launch association
New It represents Jamaican and adjacent Caribbean residents in N.L., who total to a few hundreds A new association representing Jamaican and other Caribbean residents living in Newfoundland and Labrador has officially launched. The Jamaican Canadian Association of Newfoundland and Labrador has been a long time coming, says president Didan Ashanta Wedderburn. "Six years ago when I came here, I had hopes of forming community, of finding community," Wedderburn said on CBC Radio's The Signa l. Vice-president Olivia Newland-Johnson said the association will be a road map for newcomers, helping people navigate the province, and offering resources and knowledge in multiple areas like housing, the job market, education and even food packages. "We want to make their lives easier," Newland-Johnson said, adding they welcome people to register. They are also welcoming residents to attend a gala in celebration of the association's launch taking place on Aug. 2, at The Lantern venue in St. John's. Wedderburn says the gala has the essentials of a Jamaican party — great food and music, including a Reggae dance party hosted by DJ Blanco, Bahamian vocalist Chanel Rolle and even performances from the community's children. The public can buy tickets through the association's website. There will also be recognition of the Jamaican residents who have made "significant contributions to our province," Wedderburn said. "We're bringing [a] spotlight to them to say 'We see you. You have been blazing the trail so we can follow behind you.'" 'Wanting to be together' When Tricia-Gaye Pinnock, the association's events co-ordinator, first landed in the province 11 years ago, she said she could count on one hand how many Jamaicans she knew. Now, there are a little over 300 Jamaican members, and she suspects there are more. The idea for the association first started a few years ago, with the simple wish of finding more Jamaicans living in the province. So they created an event at Bowring Park during Jamaican Independence Day in the hopes of luring out fellow Jamaicans. From that event, they created a Whatsapp group that quickly ballooned to 200 members. "It started just by us wanting to be together," Wedderburn said. "And then we realized we need to support each other in ways that's beyond having a party in the park." With a formal association, they could better represent their community, apply for grants and collaborate with other organizations and businesses. Natasha Sutherland, who is part of the community through her Jamaican husband, runs the L.S Real Estate Group that is sponsoring the gala. Sutherland said to grow the province's population, diversity is key. "It's people coming to this province, they are going to be working at companies, they're paying taxes, their kids are going to school here," she said. "And I think it's very important for businesses, then, to give back, to make sure these people feel welcome." And that welcome is a big aspect in retention which is also on the to-do list of the association, said Wedderburn. "Belonging is core to retention… if they don't feel that sense of belonging, they might not stick around long," she said. "It is within cultural community groups that we find that belonging. You get that soft landing where someone can show you where and how and why and when."
