Latest news with #Writers'TrustofCanada
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Emerging authors land $10K prize to kickstart career
The Writers' Trust of Canada has announced the winners in three categories of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, which aims to help developing authors land a book deal and further their work. Vancouver author Jess Goldman won the short fiction award for the story Tombstone of a Tsaddik, beating out Toronto's Alexis Lachaîne and Victoria's Hana Mason. In the creative non-fiction category, the top spot went to Toronto's Phillip Dwight Morgan for White Trucks and Mergansers; Morgan beat out fellow Torontonians Graham Slaughter and Huyen Trân. And in the poetry category, Vancouver author Dora Prieto took top honours for Loose Threads, besting Vancouver's Cicely Grace and Saskatchewan's Nicole Mae. Each of the winners receives $10,000, are invited to networking events and have their work published in both print and digital formats. For more about the authors and to read their submissions, see ● ● ● The Forks Market launches a new literary series on Friday with a discussion about Winnipeg, affordability and more. The first instalment of the Lectures and Lagers series kicks off at 6 p.m. with Michel Durand-Wood, author of You'll Pay for This! How We Can Afford a Great City for Everyone, Forever, published by Great Plains Press. The event, which takes place in the second-floor event space at The Forks Market, will see Durand-Wood read from the book and then take part in a Q&A with Johanna Hurme of 5468796 Architecture. Registration is required, with a suggested donation of $20; Durand-Wood's book can also be purchased through the registration page, which is at The lagers of said event (as well as ales, wine and non-alcoholic beverages) will be available for purchase from an on-site mobile bar. Buy on ● ● ● Spring book launches at McNally Robinson Booksellers' Grant Park location are in the final stretch before the quieter summer months set in. On Wednesday at 7 p.m., Winnipeg educator and filmmaker Kevin Nikkel launches Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, published by University of Manitoba Press, which includes interviews with folk fest staff, volunteers and performers. The event will be hosted by David Knipe and will feature the musical stylings of Big Dave McLean. On Friday, Nikkel's documentary about the Winnipeg Folk Festival, When We Became Folk Fest, opens at the Dave Barber Cinematheque (100 Arthur St.); the opening-night screening will be followed by a Q&A featuring Nikkel and Winnipeg music historian John Einarson. Buy on Back at McNally Robinson, on Thursday at 7 p.m. York University English Prof. Robert Zacharias launches In Search of a Mennonite Imagination: Key Texts in Mennonite Literary Criticism, published by CMU Press. The essay and review collection, edited by Zacharias, compiles over 50 pieces of writing from 44 authors spanning more than 150 years; Zacharias also provides an introduction to the book as well as to many of the pieces of writing in the book. Buy on Then on Friday at 7 p.m., Manitoba sheep farmer and wool mill owner Anna Hunter launches her book The True Cost of Wool: A Vision for Revitalizing the Canadian Industry, published by Nine Ten Publications. Hunter examines how the Canadian wool industry has changed over the decades, and how Canada could rebuild a local wool industry to the benefit of farmers, consumers and the environment. Buy on books@ Ben SigurdsonLiterary editor, drinks writer Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press's literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben. In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press's editing team before being posted online or published in print. It's part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
5 Canadian emerging writers named 2025 Writers' Trust rising stars
Social Sharing 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.
CBC
02-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Tanya Talaga among finalists for $25K political writing prize for nonfiction work The Knowing
Social Sharing Tanya Talaga is among the shortlisted writers for the 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The $25,000 prize is awarded annually for a book of literary nonfiction that embodies a political subject relevant to Canadian readers and Canadian political life. She is nominated for her book, The Knowing, which charts the life of her great-great grandmother Annie and the violence she and her family suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church and Canadian government. "I had to find out about Annie," said Talaga on Bookends with Mattea Roach. "I was just enraptured by her. I mean, she's been a mystery for my entire family for over 80 years. We're going to find those people that are crying out to be found. They need to be recognized and heard. "Part of the reason why I wrote this book ... was to empower other First Nations people to do the same thing, to try and look back. And by looking back in our family trees, we're going to find those people that are crying out to be found. They need to be recognized and heard." The Knowing is also a four-part documentary, which can be streamed on CBC Gem. Talaga is a journalist, author and filmmaker of Anishinaabe and Polish descent and a member of the Fort William First Nation. Talaga also wrote the nonfiction work Seven Fallen Feathers, which received the RBC Taylor Prize, the First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult Award and the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. In her 2018 CBC Massey Lectures series, titled All Our Relations, Talaga explored the legacy of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples. The other shortlisted writers for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prrize for Political Writing are Raymond B. Blake for Canada's Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity; Stephen Maher for The Prince, about Justin Trudeau's tenure as prime minister; Jane Philpott for Heath for All, a book the provides solutions to make Canada healthier; and Alasdair Roberts for The Adaptable Country, about how Canada can survive this century. They were chosen by jurors Jennifer Ditchburn, Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Christopher Waddell. All the titles are available in accessible formats through the Centre for Equitable Library Access. The winner will be announced on Sept. 24, 2025 at the Politics and the Pen gala. Last year's winner was John Vaillant's Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. Other past winners include Kamal Al Solaylee, Beverley McLachlin, Jane Jacobs and Roméo Dallaire. The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize was established in honour of the Member of Parliament from Windsor, Ont. and is administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada. It is sponsored by CN and supported by the Politics and the Pen gala. The Writers' Trust of Canada is an organization that supports Canadian writers through 11 annual national literary awards, fellowships, financial grants, mentorships and more.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Vancouver Writers Fest founder Alma Lee dies at 84
Alma Lee, the founder of the Vancouver Writers Fest, has died at the age of 84, according to family and friends. A champion for writers and the written word, Lee helped launch the first Vancouver International Writers Festival in 1988 and also helped found the Writers' Union of Canada and the Writers' Trust of Canada. Vancouver Writers Fest events draw 30,000 attendees annually, according to its website. Over the years, the festival has allowed readers to hear from established authors, such as Lee's friend Margaret Atwood, and provided a springboard for new, emerging writers. Atwood told CBC News she worked with Lee in the 1970s to help form the Writers' Union of Canada, which describes itself as the national organization of professionally published writers. "She was absolutely essential to the writers' union and she founded the Readers and Writers Festival in Vancouver," Atwood said. "These things all take a lot of work and a lot of networking, and she was very good at that." Alma Lee is seen in 1995 at the Vancouver Writers Fest. She said it was a fantastic opportunity for readers to interact live with writers. (CBC) Lee was born on May 5, 1940, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the daughter of a bagpipe-maker who was an avid reader. She immigrated to Canada in 1967. Atwood described Lee in that era as a "little Scottish hippie" who was "always just full of enthusiasm." "All of our things that we were doing in the '70s came out of an enthusiasm for Canada … that was our motivation," she said. Margaret Atwood says her friend Alma Lee was very good at networking. (Evan Mitsui/CBC) Lee played a key role in forming the writers' guild and served as its first executive director. "Nobody knew anything about contracts at that time," Atwood said. "We didn't know what was supposed to be in them. There weren't any agents.… Those were some of our problems, and that's why we formed the union and Alma was the person who organized it all and kept everything going." Lee also served as executive director of the Writers' Trust of Canada, which describes itself as a charitable organization that supports Canadian writers. Writers' festival highlighted newcomers She would later turn her attention to forming the Vancouver International Writers Festival. Speaking to CBC News in 1995, Lee said the festival was designed to "give people a fantastic opportunity to interact live with writers." Over the years, the festival has hosted noted writers such as Atwood, Miriam Toews, Carol Shields, John Irving and Salman Rushdie. Leslie Hurtig, the current artistic director of the festival, knew Lee for over 25 years. She said that when Lee created the writers' festival in 1988, she brought over a Scottish format for the literary fest, inherited from the Edinburgh Book Festival. "She used that same model, which is panel discussions, one-on-one conversations and readings — featuring not only established and well-known writers, but also emerging writers, sharing a stage together," Hurtig told CBC News. "She wouldn't just put Margaret Atwood on stage. She'd put Margaret Atwood on stage with an emerging writer so that their voices could be held up and given equal space." Hurtig said Lee was driven and incredibly organized, and that when she believed in something, she would fight for it. "That could ruffle feathers sometimes," Hurtig said. "But it also resulted in incredible quality of events, quality of friendships. "And I have nothing but respect for that kind of activism. I admire it greatly. I think there was a fire inside her." Lee was invested into the Order of Canada in 2005. She is survived by her sons, Kenny and Alan. An exact cause of death was not released, but Hurtig said Lee died at home surrounded by family and friends.
CBC
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Vancouver Writers Fest founder Alma Lee dies at 84
Alma Lee, the founder of the Vancouver Writers Fest, has died at the age of 84, according to family and friends. A champion for writers and the written word, Lee helped launch the first Vancouver International Writers Festival in 1988 and also helped found the Writers' Union of Canada and the Writers' Trust of Canada. Vancouver Writers Fest events draw 30,000 attendees annually, according to its website. Over the years, the festival has allowed readers to hear from established authors, such as Lee's friend Margaret Atwood, and provided a springboard for new, emerging writers. Atwood told CBC News she worked with Lee in the 1970s to help form the Writers' Union of Canada, which describes itself as the national organization of professionally published writers. "She was absolutely essential to the writers' union and she founded the Readers and Writers Festival in Vancouver," Atwood said. "These things all take a lot of work and a lot of networking, and she was very good at that." Lee was born on May 5, 1940, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the daughter of a bagpipe-maker who was an avid reader. She immigrated to Canada in 1967. Atwood described Lee in that era as a "little Scottish hippie" who was "always just full of enthusiasm." "All of our things that we were doing in the '70s came out of an enthusiasm for Canada … that was our motivation," she said. Lee played a key role in forming the writers' guild and served as its first executive director. "Nobody knew anything about contracts at that time," Atwood said. "We didn't know what was supposed to be in them. There weren't any agents.… Those were some of our problems, and that's why we formed the union and Alma was the person who organized it all and kept everything going." Lee also served as executive director of the Writers' Trust of Canada, which describes itself as a charitable organization that supports Canadian writers. Writers' festival highlighted newcomers She would later turn her attention to forming the Vancouver International Writers Festival. Speaking to CBC News in 1995, Lee said the festival was designed to "give people a fantastic opportunity to interact live with writers." Over the years, the festival has hosted noted writers such as Atwood, Miriam Toews, Carol Shields, John Irving and Salman Rushdie. Leslie Hurtig, the current artistic director of the festival, knew Lee for over 25 years. She said that when Lee created the writers' festival in 1988, she brought over a Scottish format for the literary fest, inherited from the Edinburgh Book Festival. "She used that same model, which is panel discussions, one-on-one conversations and readings — featuring not only established and well-known writers, but also emerging writers, sharing a stage together," Hurtig told CBC News. "She wouldn't just put Margaret Atwood on stage. She'd put Margaret Atwood on stage with an emerging writer so that their voices could be held up and given equal space." Hurtig said Lee was driven and incredibly organized, and that when she believed in something, she would fight for it. "That could ruffle feathers sometimes," Hurtig said. "But it also resulted in incredible quality of events, quality of friendships. "And I have nothing but respect for that kind of activism. I admire it greatly. I think there was a fire inside her." Lee was invested into the Order of Canada in 2005.
