Writers’ Trust, Giller Prize dole out awards

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This article was published 23/11/2024 (361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The year’s final big Canadian literary prizes were handed out at two Toronto events this past week — and not without some controversy.

On Nov. 18 the 2024 Giller Prize was awarded to Anne Michaels won for her novel Held, with the $100,000 award being presented at a security-heavy, pre-taped (rather than live) ceremony. The changes were made in part to avoid similar disruptions to last year’s event, which saw protesters at the live event invade the stage to raise awareness about connections between Scotiabank, one of the Giller’s major sponsors, and Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.

Protests were also held outside Toronto’s Park Hyatt, where the Giller Prize ceremony was held, and a half-dozen counter-events and readings were held simultaneously in cities across Canada, including in Winnipeg.

On Nov. 19, meanwhile, over $340,000 in prizes in seven categories were presented at the Writer’s Trust Awards.

Sheung-King won the $60,000 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction prize for his second novel Batshit Seven, poet and novelist Martha Baillie won the Hilary Weston Writers’ Prize for non-fiction for her memoir There Is No Blue, and Anthony Oliveira won the $12,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTTQ+ authors for his debut novel Dayspring.

Four career awards were also presented to Canadian authors: Métis/Dene writer and producer Marie Clements won the $40,000 Matt Cohen Award for a lifeteime of distinguished work; Rita Wong won the $60,000 Latner Griffin Award, presented to a mid-career poet; Sara O’Leary won the $25,000 Vicky Metcalf Award for young people’s literature for her body of work; and Madeleine Thien won the $25,000 Engel Findley Award for a writer (predominantly fiction) in the midst of their career.

Thien, who has been an outspoken critic of the Giller Prize (which she won in 2016 for Do Not Say We Have Nothing), announced she would be donating her winnings to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, the Lebanese Red Cross and the Woodcock Fund, which supports struggling Canadian writers.

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Budding and experienced writers: put those finishing touches on your best poetry, short fiction or creative non-fiction, as the deadline for Prairie Fire Press and McNally Robinson Booksellers’ annual writing contest draws near.

This year’s judges are Bola Opaleke (poetry), Lauren Carter (fiction) and Jenny Heijun Wills (non-fiction). Each entry to the contest is $34, which comes with a one-year subscription to Prairie Fire; the winner of each of the three categories will receive $1,250 and publication in Prairie Fire’s summer issue.

The deadline to enter is Nov. 30; for more information or to enter, see prairiefire.ca/contests.

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The final big week of book launches at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location kicks off Tuesday at 7 p.m., with We We Kai Nation author and former MP Jody Wilson-Raybould discussing her latest book Reconciling History: A Story of Canada.

Wilson-Raybould will be joined in conversation by Winnipeg-based former CBC Radio host Shelagh Rogers.

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Thursday night at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location sees a heavy-hitting trio of middle-grade novelists convene at 7 p.m. to launch thir most recent works of fiction.

Winnipeg-born, Thornhill, Ont.-based Sidura Ludwig, will launch Swan: The Girl Who Grew, with Winnipeg author Carol Matas launching Zevi Takes the Spotlight and Winnipeg’s Colleen Nelson bringing her newest middle-grade novel Mystery at the Biltmore.

And on Friday at 7 p.m., Karen Emilson launches a companion novel to her 2016 novel Be Still the Water, which is set in the early 20th century along the shores of Lake Manitoba. Her new novel Also Known as Jaime Dorn jumps forward in time, following the titular character to the West Coast, her grandfather’s ashes stuffed in her backpack, as she tries to escape her past.

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Former Winnipegger Steve Noyes The Conveyor has won the 2024 bpNichol Chapbook Award, presented at an event in Toronto on Nov. 17.

The award is presented to the best poetry chapbook submitted for consideration, and comes with a $4,000 prize as well as $500 to the publisher. The Conveyor was published by Alfred Gustav Press in the Series Thirty collection in December 2023.

books@freepress.mb.ca