New novelists dominate $70K fiction short list
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The 2026 Writers’ Trust of Canada’s top fiction prize will likely be won by a first-time novelist, with debuts taking four of the five spots on the short list revealed on Sept. 23.
The books in contention for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize are Fancy Gap by Zak Jones, My Person by Téa Mutonji, Riverwork by Lisa Robertson, Treat Them As Buffalo by Blair Palmer Yoxall and Seven Heavens Away by Ashraf Zaghal. Only Robertson has previously published a novel, 2020’s The Baudelaire Fractal, although Mutonji was a finalist for the prize in 2019 for the short-story collection Shut Up, You’re Pretty.
The winner of the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize takes home $70,000, with finalists receiving $7,500. The trio of jurors — Conor Kerr, David Chariandy and Kathleen Winter — pored through 118 submissions to get to the short list. The winner will be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards on Nov. 10 in Toronto.
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The third annual Winnipeg Queer Book Fair takes place Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Victoria Inn Hotel (1808 Wellington Ave.).
Presented by Raven’s End Books, Prairie Sky Books and Pride Winnipeg, the free, family-friendly event features artists, booksellers and authors. Writers/illustrators on hand will include Ally Loyns, S.M. Beiko, Rhael Mcgregor, Ava Glendinning, Kate Butler and, presented by Other Places Books, Suzan Palumbo.
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The Winnipeg Public Library has announced that Japanese-Canadian author and translator Sally Ito has been named writer in residence for the next leg of the program, which begins Thursday and runs through to April 30, 2027.
Ito, whose most recent book was the 2022 poetry collection Heart’s Hydrography, will run workshops, provide one-on-one consultations and host a writing circle. The library’s previous writer in residence was Ariel Gordon.
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One of Canada’s best-known experts on UFOs lands at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location tonight at 7 p.m., for a launch of his latest out-of-this-world account of the mysteries of the skies.
Winnipegger Chris Rutkowski’s new book Canada’s UFO Secrets: Disclosing Government Files on What is Happening in Our Skies, published in July, looks at decades of investigations into UFOs in Canada, the development of policy on the phenomenon and offers insight into never-before seen cases.
Rutkowski will be joined in conversation at the launch by amateur UFOlogist and bookseller David Knipe.
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In University of Manitoba history instructor Robert G. Penner’s new novel, the British Empire of the 19th century has opted to flex its muscle and colonize another corner of the world — hell.
Penner’s third novel, Notes on a Colonial Situation in Hell, was published by McNally Editions, the publishing arm of New York’s McNally Jackson Books. His other work includes the novels The Dark King Swallows the World and Strange Labour.
Penner’s latest launches Tuesday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location; he’ll be joined in conversation by author and U of M history/women’s and gender studies prof Adele Perry.
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Manitoba author Lauren Carter has picked up an award at the 2026 Alberta Book Publishing Awards — which, as the name suggests, lauds the best of Alberta publishing (hence the fact a Manitoban can win an award).
Carter won the Douglas Barber Award for Speculative Fiction for her 2025 novel The Longest Night, published in 2025 by Calgary’s Freehand Books, which also won publisher of the year.
Other winners include Sharon Butala (trade non-fiction for How to Breathe Water) and Tim Bowling (trade fiction for Graveyard Shift at the Lemonade Stand). For a complete list of winners see wfp.to/iRk.
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Ottawa’s Jenna Timmons-Oikawa has won the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize, including the $6,000 award and a two-week residency at Banff Centre for the Arts. The piece, Wawa Indian, was chosen as the winner by jurors Niigaan Sinclair, Teresa Wong and Claire Cameron from more than 1,900 submissions. To read Wawa Indian visit wfp.to/ixP.
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Ben Sigurdson
Literary 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.
Ben Sigurdson
Literary 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.
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