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 21st year.
This year’s jury comprises authors Andrew J. Borkowski, Shree Ghatage, and Doretta Lau.
A short list will be announced in mid-May 2018, with the winner and two finalists being named in June 2018, in conjunction with the Canadian Writers’ Summit and 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 2017 calendar year. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2018. Eligible titles may be submitted by publishers according to submission guidelines available at www.writersunion.ca/danuta-gleed-literary-award.
ABOUT THE JURY
Andrew J. Borkowski's short story collection Copernicus Avenue was nominated for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and won the 2012 Toronto Book Award. His journalism has appeared in The Globe and Mail, the Canadian Forum, Quill & Quire, TV Guide, and the Los Angeles Times.
Shree Ghatage is the author of the short story collection Awake When All the World Is Asleep, which was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and won the Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. She is also the author of two novels, Brahma’s Dream and Thirst. She has recently completed a third novel, Enthrallment. Born in Bombay, India, she came to St. John’s, Newfoundland, in the early 1980s and lived there several years before moving to Calgary, Alberta, in 1998.
Doretta Lau is the author of the short story collection How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? which was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award, longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and named by The Atlantic as one of the best books of 2014. In 2013, she was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Day One, Event, Grain Magazine, Prairie Fire, PRISM International, Ricepaper, Room Magazine, sub-TERRAIN, and Zen Monster. She splits her time between Vancouver and Hong Kong.
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 2018 awards ceremony, for books published in 2017, will mark the 21st 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
soconnor@writersunion.ca
DATE: November 14, 2017
