The Writers’ Union of Canada and the Gleed family are pleased to announce the jury for the $10,000 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, Canada’s pre-eminent award for the best first Canadian collection of short fiction in the English language, now celebrating its 17th year.
This year’s jury is comprised of authors Candas Jane Dorsey, Russell Wangersky, and Ian Williams.
A short list will be announced in early May 2014, with the winner and two finalists being named in late May 2014, in conjunction with The Writers’ Union of Canada’s Annual General Meeting. The winner receives $10,000 and each of the two finalists is awarded $500.
To be eligible, books must be first collections of short fiction written by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and published in Canada in the English language in the 2013 calendar year. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2014. Eligible titles may be submitted by publishers according to submission guidelines available at http://www.writersunion.ca/danuta-gleed.
ABOUT THE JURY
Candas Jane Dorsey is a fiction writer, poet and professional writer living in her hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. Dorsey became a writer from an early age and works across genre boundaries, writing poetry, fiction, mainstream and speculative, short and long form, arts journalism and arts advocacy. Her works include: Results of the Ring Toss, Hardwired Angel, Machine Sex and Other Stories, Leaving Marks, Black Wine (winner, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Crawford Award, Prix Aurora Awards), Vanilla and Other Stories, and A Paradigm of Earth. Dorsey has also written television and stage scripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and reviews.
Russell Wangersky is a writer, editor and columnist from St. John’s, Newfoundland. A five-time finalist for Canada’s National Newspaper Awards (winning for editorials in 2002 and 2011), he works at the St. John’s Telegram as the editorial page editor. His five books include Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself, The Glass Harmonica, and two short story collections. His latest book, Whirl Away, was a finalist for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and won the Thomas Head Raddall Prize. His first short story collection, The Hour of Bad Decisions, was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Prize and was also long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Russell has worked in the media for 30 years.
Ian Williams is the author of Personals, shortlisted for the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award; Not Anyone's Anything, winner of the 2011 Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada; and You Know Who You Are, a finalist for the ReLit Prize for poetry. He was named as one of ten Canadian writers to watch by CBC. Williams completed his Ph.D. in English at the University of Toronto and works as an English professor. He lives in Brampton, Ontario.
ABOUT THE AWARD
The Danuta Gleed Literary Award was created as a celebration of the life of Danuta Gleed, a writer whose short fiction won several awards before her death in 1996. Danuta Gleed’s first collection of short fiction, One of the Chosen, was posthumously published by BuschekBooks. The Award is made possible through a generous donation from John Gleed in memory of his late wife, and is administered by The Writers’ Union of Canada.
The Award was first given in 1998 for books published in 1997. The 2014 awards ceremony, for books published in 2013, will mark the 17th anniversary of the prize.
ABOUT THE WRITERS’ UNION OF CANADA
The Writers' Union of Canada is our country's national organization representing professional authors of books. Founded in 1973, the Union is dedicated to fostering writing in Canada, and promoting the rights, freedoms, and economic well-being of all writers.
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For additional information
Siobhan O’Connor, Associate Director
The Writers’ Union of Canada
416-703-8982 x 222 or
soconnor@writersunion.ca
